Hollow Whole
by apathetica
Summary: AU OoTPxAU BLEACH Arrancar Arc. “Why didn’t you just say ‘Stabbing yourself through the heart will complete the bonding ritual’ instead of making it out like I was killing myself!” I said. “That’s because if it didn’t work you really would’ve died.
1. Chapter 1: Fuck you Fate

**Hollow whole  
**

**Summary:** End of GoF. AU OoTP. AU Bleach Arrancar Arc. Dumbledore decided to tell Harry the prophecy after Voldemort is resurrected at the end of GoF. What could possibly defeat voldemort? Harry needs help, and fate decides to throw him a bone.

**Premise:** We follow stories of harry's super powers and ultracool animagus forms. I find harry to be very regular with the exception of his extraordinary circumstances. He's portrayed as super!Harry more often than not, and in most stories his powers continue to grow in order to confront new dark lords- but what if the newest baddest thing isn't harry's responsibility? The threat of another, more terrible dark lord looms, and fate decides to help the two number one targets by giving them each other.

**Spoilers:** Bleach Arrancar arc (but it's AU). HP OoTP and Horcuxes. **No spoilers for deathly hallows** because I haven't finished it yet.

**Chapter one: Fuck you Fate.**

_The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches. Born to parents who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. The dark lord shall mark him as his equal and he shall have powers the dark lord knows not. Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches, born as the seventh month dies. _

The first thing I felt was horror; A bone deep, chilling, mind numbing terror, but only for a moment. On the heels of those feelings came denial. Denial is the natural response to something so overwhelming. Impossible; That I should have some mysterious power to kill he who destroyed my betters?

My jaw tenses, and fists clench. I'm sweating, and my heart's beating in my ears just thinking about the fights I've been in. Every time… something, some windfall, came to help me. It was never me, not by myself.

I didn't hear much after that, or if I did, I couldn't absorb it until later. And then, much later, when all of it swirled around in my head the only thing that stuck to me was the firm belief that I couldn't do it. When I tried to think about it logically, the only thing I could conclude was that I hadn't really done anything in the past fights with Voldemort.

The most desperate fight, even more so than the graveyard confrontation with the vulture himself, was the one with dementors. First, because they scared me shitless. Second, because if I failed, everyone would lose their souls… not just me. Logically, I knew the encounters with voldemort should've scarred me more, but losing my life never seemed as frightening to me as losing myself.

Reflecting on that a bit more, I realized that my upbringing had forged a person who, despite my non-existent self worth, or maybe because of it, felt like it was up to me to protect everyone. At the same time, I was raised to rely on no one but myself. If I had to do this, to kill the dark lord, I knew I was on my own. An alarming thought, considering I'd just accepted that I couldn't really do anything by myself.

How could I get the help I needed without risking anyone else? Asking this question led me to different questions of the like, such as: Was it possible to increase my innate power level? Maybe I already had the power I needed, like Dumbledore suggested, and I just needed training? Who could possibly train me to fight a dark lord? What is this stupid power I was supposed to have…and why me?

Fucking fate.

I had to get up and _do_ something. Sitting up caused my head to swim, my heart's beating still reverberating through my skull. It was closer to sunset and the lights were out. I was thankful for the peace and darkness of the dormitory, but staying here wasn't going to make anything better.

Skirting the dinner stragglers as I walk in the opposite direction, I was able to arrive in the library without encountering anyone. The idea that voldemort could be defeated by anything I could find in here was laughable, but then again, voldemort was just a stupid kid at one time too, and he probably started here as well.

Thinking that didn't make me feel better; rather, a cynical bitter taste filled my mouth and I had kicked the nearest shelf before I'd even realized. And wouldn't you know it… a book popped out. Knowing what a capricious bitch fate was, I didn't dare pick it up yet. I was in the "A" section, specifically "Animal." Unbidden, my eyes went to the title.

"The Summoning." My nostrils flared. "What…. You give voldemort the '10 steps to dark-lord-dom' and I get summoning?"

I felt like fate was once again laughing at me, and I picked up the book, resigned. I needed help, it's true, but that doesn't mean I like it. Still, if fate was throwing me a bone then I'd chew it to the marrow.

_The Summoning_ was as much as history of summons as a manual for how to perform them. There were several types of summons, and most should not be attempted by those with a desire to live. The first type of summon, was, surprisingly enough, a summoning of the vision of one's spirit animal. This is the first step in an animagus transformation. I wouldn't mind being an animagus, but I don't have three years to blow in the attempt.

The next type of summoning involved a contracted race of creatures. One had to summon a representative from the particular race, and negotiate a contract with the summoned. It normally involved lots of sacrifice, either in blood or magical power, for the ability to summon members of that race to help in a fight. There were lots of interesting stories of wizards who'd used summoned animals to tear apart large groups of foes – complete with some bloody depictions. The down side to this type of summoning, other than the sacrifice, is that the wizard had to commit himself to one race only. Furthermore, the enemies of that race became the enemies of that wizard.

My imagination went crazy with the implications. I saw Salazar Slytherin, in my mind, biting off the heads of every rooster he encountered to appease the basilisk he must've summoned. It makes me smile, despite everything.

I stared at the artist's rendition of a battle against a group of demon-foxes the wizard had summoned, and their foes strewn about the ground among lost limbs and bits of gore and sinew. The moving image contained a detailed illustration of the pain one of the fallen underwent as his intestines were eaten by a fox while he was still alive. This was the reason, according to the book, this particular type of summoning "went out of style." The more powerful the race contracted, the more necessary the sacrifices, the more likely the bodies of your opponents were to be desecrated. That tended to make one rather unpopular, no matter how righteous the intention.

It certainly looked really sticky.

"Is this what you want me to do?" I asked out loud. Fate, it appeared, was finished being helpful, so I got no answer. I read on.

The third type of summoning was a ritual to summon a familiar. It was like contracting a race, but instead of a sacrifice of blood or magic, you had to offer up your soul. Once given over to a familiar, the wizard would be unable to perform any other type of summoning, including the animagus vision. The animal inside the wizard would conflict with the familiar otherwise. However, the wizard gained access to several, if not all, of the familiar's unique powers. Not very useful if your familiar was an alley cat, but the potential was there if you were able to bind yourself to a powerful magical creature.

I wondered if Dumbledore could cry healing tears and live forever now. The second potential ability made me shudder. My imagination went crazy again as I envisioned Dumbledore, two thousand years from now, offering lemon drops to cyborg students, while Snape, who was now only a disembodied, greasy head floating in a jar, complained about kids today. Snape would survive that long too, just like a cockroach. In fact, if Snape had a familiar that's what it would be.

Back on task…. The two strongest wizards I knew of both had familiars. Dumbledore had Fawkes, and Voldemort had Nagini. That meant that they'd forgone the animagus transformation in favor of summoning a familiar. If I had a hope of being on par with the dark lord, I suppose that meant I needed one too.

My mind weighed the benefits of a familiar over an animgus form, because I would have to choose between them. I went over the fight's I'd had with the dark lord, and imagined a familiar with me. Fawkes came to my rescue in second year, and, in a way, at the graveyard when I faced Voldemort again. His phoenix song had given me strength to fight, and his healing tears had kept me alive. Fawkes wasn't even my own familiar and he had helped me so much. Being an animagus would be wonderful, but a familiar could be the one thing I had secretely craved above all else for as long as I could remember: a true companion. One I wouldn't leave behind when the term ended, and one who could never abandon me.

"A familiar?" I asked aloud. Nothing answered me in the darkened library. "Maybe this is 'step 1' to becoming a dark lord." I mused.

I kicked the shelf again, just to make sure. Nothing else came out. I sighed.

The book warned of the dangers of summoning vociferously, in both parable and practice. Summoning to negotiate a contract required sacrifice even if a contract was never reached, like a gift given at the beginning of a negotiation. Furthermore, a person had to know themselves very well to know which kind of animal to summon.

The consequences of summoning the wrong type of animal, one too powerful for the wizard to handle, or, worst of all, offending the animal by not having a gift worth or great enough for it were messy to say the least. There was a high failure rate for summoning. The failure of the first resulting in the wizard having too weak a personality or self awareness to know their spirit animal, or being unable to accept the animal they are and going insane from it.

I thought maybe that happened to wormtail, but then I realized it was probably the opposite. He must've accepted his rat form a little too much, and stopped caring for anything other than his own life.

The book made it clear a wizard was more likely to get ripped apart by the summoned than helped on the first (and only) try.

At this point, I didn't really care. The only promise given to those born is death, and if fate had a plan for me I figured it wasn't going to let me kick until I'd done whatever it wanted me to do. I had nothing left to lose.

That led me to pick the most dangerous and most powerful type of summon I could.

Voldemort wanted to lock the world into stagnation, with himself as ruler over a hopeless caste system.

Voldemort had a snake familiar. The snake biting its own tail was the symbol of eternity.

Vold-e-mort : flight from death. Eternal life.

Nothing can out-fly me.

[break

I didn't want to consult anyone. I didn't even want to see anyone. I was afraid of losing my nerve, or being talked out of it. Sirius, Ron and Hermione would tie me down before letting me try something so risky.

"Inner-mind-hermione" popped into my head with a horrified expression when she understood what I was going to do and started talking about post-traumatic-stress-disorder and Prozac. I pushed her from my thoughts.

"Chew to marrow, Harry." That's what I told myself. I knew I wasn't entirely rational right now. Try being rational after watching your friend die, having your blood used in a resurrection ceremony for the man that killed your parents, only to see your parent's after-thoughts come to your defense as you duel for your life. Blah blah blah, I could bitch and moan forever- or maybe never again. If fate really had me by the balls like I knew she did, then I'd survive this in some ridiculous fashion. If I didn't, well, Ron could have my stuff.

The circle was drawn in a clearing in the forbidden forest. I was careful to save my strength yesterday, but I was still tired from the third task ordeal. Being in the forest on one's own is reckless at the best of times, but I barely thought about that as I drew the runes.

Death. End. Soul. Break. Chains. Reap. Reject. Fate. Teach. Destroy. Friendship. Power. Love.

The book said to draw thirteen runes that symbolized yourself and send it out into the _aether_, which the book described as being something that connects all things in the universe together. Or something like that…

I was waiting for Dobby to pop out at any moment and say "You is using the FORCE, harry potter, sir!" while I tried to balance myself on my hands and raise stones with my mind.

Fekh! I decided that I'd instead write what I was looking for in a familiar and be prepared to offer whatever was desired in return.

The last rune I threw on with incredulity, on the off chance that Dumbledore was right, and it wasn't a powerful silver blade or hard training that could finish off Voldemort, but the power of love. Fate would make it something so ridiculous. Fucker.

I stripped. I didn't know why I had to strip, but the book gave some vague comments about "honesty" that sounded like bullshit. I had already altered one aspect of the ritual, so I figured I shouldn't try my luck or fate might decide Neville would make a decent boy-who-lived after all. Not that I'd care, or anything, but I wouldn't mind dishing out some revenge before I bought it.

Sardonically, I thought, revenge was all I had left. I wondered why I hadn't included it as a rune.

The sky was blue and the air was warm, and I could almost make believe everything was normal and Hermione, Ron and I were next to the lake watching the clouds pass like nothing happened. Stepping into the circle and laying down changed that relaxed atmosphere. The magic started humming immediately. I knew it was working from the draining sensation I felt, so I laid down and let myself go to sleep.

Either I'd wake up with something hopefully better than a flobber worm for a soul mate, or I'd never wake up at all. At this point I didn't really care which.

**A/N's: **

**To my SDM readers:** I haven't abandoned SDM, but I am sick of romance right now. The devil's respite isn't a romance series, but romance is a part of it, and I don't feel like writing it right now. If you are worried I'll pull the same shit with this story, let me assure you I've already completed 18 chapters of this story. Read it if you feel like it, flame at me if you don't.

**To my new readers: ** I'll try to update weekly. As I mentioned, 18 chapters are already complete, averaging 8 single spaced pages a chapter. You don't need to know BLEACH to understand this story, because I'll try to explain all the bleach references as they happen. For those of you that know BLEACH, this is just as much an AU hp as it is an AU arrancar arc, so there will be major differences between the BLEACH cannon and what happens here.

**This story is ****NOT ****any of the following:** A romance. A super!Harry. A dark!harry A Harry!Ichigo!friendship. A slash. A Harry is the reincarnation of one of the dead bleach characters.

**This story is: ** Action/Adventure with a hint of dark humor. I felt like writing violence, so they'll be as many fight scenes as I can pack in between the plot.

**If you are going to review:** I will not put DH spoilers in this story, so please don't put them in your reviews. I wrote this story before DH came out because I didn't want the magic of HP to end, but I had a feeling Harry would die during DH… so I wanted to write a story where, even if he died, the adventure would go on. I'm on chapter 14 of DH as of 8/8/07 when this is posted, so I don't know what will happen for sure, but if that is what happened I'd rather find out from JK, not from you. Kindly respect that.

**Appreciation: ** Thanks to the steadfast fans of SDM. I will finish it, but I'm taking a break for this story. I hope you enjoy it.


	2. Chapter 2: Fairy Princess

**Chapter two: Fairy Princess **

"Oi! Dipshit! How long are you going to sleep?" A subtle yanking of my hair had me opening my reluctant eyes.

"Oh. Fucking. brilliant." I muttered, as I repressed hysterical laughter. I knew if I started laughing I'd never stop.

A humanoid male body hovered above me, clothed in a black jumpsuit that tapered down to the two spikes that were two raptor-like toes on each foot. That wasn't the problem.

The lower half of his face was concealed by a torn cloth, but the two scars near either brow were visible beneath a black tuft of up-raised hair. Again, not the problem.

He hovered due to the set of wings attached, seemingly, to the backs of his thighs. He also had a set of fins attached to his calves. Not an issue!

He was leaning over me, only inches from my face, but I was hardly intimidated. How could I be intimidated by something the length of my hand.

"A fairy." I said plainly. "A FUCKING FAIRY!"

"Who're you callin' a fairy, you assclown! You're the one sitting out in the wild fucking naked!"

"Death. End. Soul. Break. Chains. Reap. Reject. Fate. Teach. Destroy…. What the fuck did I do wrong? How does a fairy match any of that!!!" I screamed, sitting up.

Several chains rattled.

"I'm not a fucking fairy you fucking moron! Don't you pay attention to what people say? Hey! Are you even listening to me!" I wasn't. I was looking at the chains that had rattled.

Several were coming out of the scar on my forehead. I thought I knew what that was, but why there was several of them was a mystery I'd have to ponder later. For right now I didn't want to touch it. One chain, the largest of all, was coming out of my chest. I pulled and found it was attached to something else, and when I followed where it went, I saw, lying in the middle of the circle, right where I had put it, my body.

"A familiar requires a soul… So, the ritual pulled me out of my body? Weird."

"Oi, fucktard! I'm talking to you!" I smiled at the little winged man, but it wasn't pleasant.

The fairy had some sense, because it backed away a little when it saw that smile. Still in it's too-deep-voice-for-a-fairy it said "You are the one who called out!"

"Yes…" I took a deep breath and remembered the depictions of people who had offended their summoned. "I'm sorry. You… your appearance startled me. What… what are you?" Oh, fuck you fate! Even if it's some really super cool, never heard of, never makes familiar ties, magical creature, you HAD to make it the most embarrassing thing since the quidditch team saw me in dudley's old tidy widies.

"I!" declared the little man "am Tsubaki of the Shun Shun Rikka!"

"huh?"

"Great, he's fucking defective. Do I have to repeat myself every time before you understand, you useless meat sack!"

"What is the shun shun rikka? I've never heard of it." I said, determined to finish this ritual by giving the little fairy a consolation prize and breaking the ritual without a bonding.

"The six flowers of Orihime's heart…" Piped in a new voice. Another winged little man, this time with blond hair in a top knot and a foxy face, flew in front of me.

"Hey Shun'oh, don't fucking interrupt me."

"Orihime?" I asked. 'Shun'oh' pointed. I turned. My mouth dropped.

There, looking furtively at my naked soul, was a girl my age. She had free flowing chestnut hair… and a hole in her chest. I could see right through the hole to the other side. The chains coming out of me were loosely wrapped around her.

"I thought this was a ritual to summon a familiar… it was in the animals section." I protested. I started to think that maybe _The summoning_ wasn't fate, like I'd thought, and that I'd really fucked up when the girl spoke.

"I'm not human anymore." Then, like we were having a picnic instead of a ritual she plopped down next to my disembodied, very nude soul and smiled at me. "I've never seen so many chains of fate before! Sorry about Tsubaki, I wasn't sure what was happening so I called him out to break the chains that pulled me here, but then Shun'oh explained and is it true that you are really a wizard?! Like, can you pull rabbits out of hats and stuff? And…"

I gaped at her, unable to parse everything she was telling me for the speed with which she said it, and the distraction of seeing of the chains of fate attached to me loosely wrapped around her.

"I.." She stopped and looked attentively at me. "Rabbits?" I shook my head. The chains rattled. I grit my teeth. That would get annoying really really fast. "No, I can't… I suppose I could actually, if you really want a rabbit."

She laughed. Her laugh was girly without being giggly. This was so **not** fucking funny!

Four other fairies joined the first two, swirling around and making commentary loudly. The landscape had become dull and blurred, as though it were insubstantial- when it was, in fact, me who had become insubstantial. Her wildly colored fairies and bright hair stood out starkly against the gray sky and the dead-white of my soul's skin.

"Un. Fucking. believable." I let out a few breaths, then turned to her. "So… what are you?"

Her smile faltered and the fairies stopped moving and seemed to fade in brightness. "Arrancar."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what that is."

"It's a human who has died and then lost their heart. They become nothing more than instinct and don masks to shield that raw instinct as they consume human souls to fill the hollow their heart has become." She pointed to the hole in her chest, and then, surprisingly, pointed to my forehead.

Still, I didn't dare reach up and touch the nightmare my soul's face had become.

"We are called hollows, for the holes in our chests. An Arrancar is a hollow that removes the mask and seals those instincts and powers into a blade." She pointed to the short sword bound at her waist to her back. "This saves their energy for battle, and deadens the need to consume human souls."

"Consume souls…Like a dementor?" There was something more important than that, however. "Wait.. human… " I looked up at her. "This ritual offers a soul for bonding… not … eating." I said, knowing that there wasn't much I could do to stop her if she wanted to eat me. It was taking my life's breath just to sit up in this form. "And it's supposed to summon an animal… a magical creature."

"What is the difference between an animal and a human whose inhibitions and conscience have been removed?" She said with a sad smile. She shook her shoulders and the chains between us rattled. We were silent for a time as I tried to think about what I was going to do.

A roar tore the air.

"Hollow!" Shun'oh cried, and three of the fairies assembled themselves into a triangle of yellow light in front of us. The scream filled the air again, and the swirling shapes of the soul-landscape seemed to tremble under the onslaught. The sky was torn apart and the hand of a monster protruded through the opening.

"What the hell!" My mouth gaped and I was on my feet before I realized I had the strength to do so. The rattling chains were drowned out beneath the screeching of the thing coming through the tear.

Clawed red fingernails, spiked elbows, a serpentine body, a fanged white mask that concealed the second, human set of teeth beneath it, and a large hole where it's heart was that showed the landscape on the otherside; a hollow. It was ten times the size of a human being, and its serpentine body was as long as Hogwarts was tall. And that thing _was_ human, at some point.

If that was what a hollow looked like with a mask shielding its instinct, then I never wanted to see Orihime's revealed.

"Tsubaki!" She cried, and the arrogant fairy man was streaking towards the invader with a yellow tail of energy trailing in his wake. "**Koten Zanshun, I reject!" **She called.

As Tsubaki was about to collide with the invader, the hollow snapped out of existence and Tsubaki passed through the air impotently. The shock of the disappearance seemed to break the thrust of the attack, and the yellow glow surrounding the fairy shattered as he returned to a humanoid state.

"Where.." She began to say… then Boom! The Hollow reappeared and struck at the triangular ward she had erected with a gigantic crash. The shield shuddered, but held. "Tsubaki!" But just as suddenly the hollow was gone again.

The anxiety of the situation filled me with sickness as I helplessly looked on. My wand was with my body still in the sealed summoning circle. Even if I had it, I doubt the magic would work in soul form. I didn't know of any magic that could affect a soul, in any case, much less the nightmare monster than was attacking us. I couldn't remember ever being this terrified and useless, but I wanted to help… I wanted to do something.

The hollow snapped into existence again, and Orihime barely managed to position her ward in time to block. She seemed to favor directing her fairies with her hands, but was inhibited by my chains of fate wrapped around her. The hollow backed away slightly after the strike bounced back, and leered, displaying both sets of teeth.

"Pet-Princess…" the thing hissed. For some reason the fact that it could speak made everything worse. I expected it not to be able to talk, like a dementor. I knew, logically, that it used to be human at some point, but hearing it speak brought that fact home. If it's speech was horrible, it's gaze was ten times as malevolent. I felt like I was drowning in bloodlust and filth. "Running away again…"

"What is the meaning of this? Why are you attacking me?" She demanded.

"Nothing to hold us back… No shinigami to protect you… I'm going to eat you little princess, and gain the power of an Arrancar!"

I realized that Orihime, or maybe all Arrancar, were still human enough to be considered prey by their fellow hollows. It was easier to believe that Arrancar were still mostly human, than to believe all hollows were cannibalistic.

"He's using Flash steps. That is his ability." Shun'oh declared, a look of concentration on his foxy face.

"Oi! Woman! Direct me using your hands to match his speed!" Tsubaki demanded. He folded his black body up and prepared for another charge. Orihime rattled the chains around her powerlessly, frustrated with the restricted movement.

"I can't move freely until he releases me from his spell." Orihime told her fairies.

"I don't know how." I confessed, numbly horrified. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way. We were supposed to meet on the spirit plane and negotiate a contract _before_ a binding took place." It was hard to talk through the bile in my throat. I was terrified, and worse, I was guilty. Yet again someone else was in danger of losing their soul because of my stupid recklessness. "Can't you cut yourself free? You've got a sword!" I pointed out.

Shun'oh shook his little blond head and pointed at my body. "The chain of fate that is wrapped around Orihime is what connects your soul to your body. To sever it would mean you could not return to your body. You would die."

How could I be so reckless? How could I fuck up so badly? Even if I had my wand, what could I do against that monster? And if Orihime lost, not only would I die, both our souls would be consumed by the hollow. There was nothing for it.

"That's fine." I said, resigned. I expected it wouldn't end well to begin with. There was no sense in dragging an innocent person into it as well. "Cut it. Save yourself."

"Yess…. Princess…" Hissed the hollow. "He smells powerful too. If you give him to me, than I may let you walk away."

She drew her blade.

I stopped breathing.

I couldn't feel anything but numbness, as the panic of what was about to take place overwhelmed me. I knew I had told her to cut it- that I offered to die so she could defend herself, but some part of me still clawed at my soul in fear- the will to live, perhaps, and reached desperately for safety. The moment seemed to echo into eternity as I waited for the blow to fall. This was it. The end of my life. The end of my soul.

She threw the sword to me.

I barely caught it.

"No!" She rejected. "I left… I left because I was tired of being protected. I didn't want anyone else to sacrifice themselves for me." She turned to look at me. "Use it!"

I couldn't do anything but stare at her numbly.

The hollow seemed to realize he wasn't getting a free meal and charged at us. Again, the barrier moved itself into position just in time.

She was giving me her sword? But what was I supposed to do with it?

"Stab yourself with it." She said. That answered that question…

The hollow charged from behind, too quick to see with the naked eye, and the shield wasn't able to move in time. We dodged to opposite sides and the chain linking us expanded for the distance, but seemed to decrease in thickness as it did so, like it was being stretched.

"Orihime!" Shun'oh protested. "We don't know if that'll work. Ichigo might've been a fluke, and besides, Rukia was a shinigami!"

I didn't know what the hell they were talking about. Offering to die for someone I just met, however, was the limit of my selflessness. I didn't think myself capable of physically killing myself for anyone. I drew the blade from the sheath and looked for the monster.

"Stab where the chain of fate connects to your chest! Stab right through the heart!" She demanded.

"I can't do that!" I screamed back.

The hollow snapped into view again, its hand a blur as it thrust at its first target, and was repelled by the triangular shield again.

"Tsubaki!" She called, and waved her arm towards the hollow, but again wasn't fast enough. The hollow blurred behind her, too fast to see and caught her in one of its enormous clawed fists.

"HAHAHA!" it cackled. "Gotcha pet-princess!"

"NO!" I screamed, running forward, sword brandished. "Put her down.. I'll do it! PUT HER DOWN!"

"Why would I waste my belly on a weak little demi-hollow like you when I could feast on an arrancar!" The hollow said.

Well… that was a perfectly rational point. I wasn't really keen on stabbing myself anyway. But it occurred to me that if Orihime was eaten with my chain of fate wrapped around her, then it would snap anyway and I'd still die.

"Trust me!" Orihime called out. "It'll be ok!"

"Fucking fate!" I yelled, and thrust the short blade into my heart.

**A/N's:**

**This is NOT a romance.** I know some of you are saying "It's Orihime? This is going to be a Harry/Orihime? Back-button." It isn't. She's still in love with Ichigo in this story, so there will be no romance other than the "I got my ass rejected and I'm full of angst" kind.

**This is also NOT **super!Harry – infact he'll spend a lot of time getting his ass handed to him.

**I've just completed chapter 19** and I'm currently working on chapter 20. I don't know how long this story will be, but the ending has been mapped out without DH in mind, even though I'll probably have finished DH by then. Any similarities between what happens in DH and this story is just a coincidence.

**Thanks** to those who reviewed, alerted, favorite-ed, etc…

**Glossary of BLEACH terms: **

Shun Shun Rikka: The six fairies that Orihime commands. More on this next chapter.

Chains of fate: Human souls who have been separated from their bodies have a single chain of fate that connects their soul to their body, originating from a pentagonal shaped plate over the heart. If the chain should be cut, the human dies and is unable to return to their body.

Hollow: the soul of a deceased human who has lost their heart. Hollows consume other human souls, including other hollows, to fill the gap left by the loss of their heart. Consuming powerful human souls gives the hollow more power and a larger size.

Arrancar: A hollow that has removed the mask and locked their monsterous body and powers inside of a blade in order to save their strength for battle, and deaden their bottomless hunger.

Reiatsu: Spiritual energy that connect the universe, including the living and the dead, together. Think of the force, it's kinda like that.

Shinigami: soul reapers who kill hollows and send the souls of the dead to the after-life.

Hollow hole: The hole in the chest of the hollow where their heart used to be. All hollows have hollow holes, but they may be in different locations on the body. The most common location is where the heart was, but some have them in their bellies or throats. The origin of the hollow hole is the chain of fate, which is first severed when the human dies, then slowly degrades leaving a hole in its place.

Demi-hollow: next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3: Demihole

Thanks to all the reviewers for the last chapter (all four of you.) Reception of this story has been downright cold, actually. SDM did much better initially, so I'm a little surprised. Isn't anyone else sick of romance stories besides myself?

**Stats:** 461 total. 181 chapter 2. That's probably a closer number to how many people are actually reading the story. Alerts: 8, Fav's: 5, C2: 1. Updated 8-18-07

**Chapter three: Demi-Hole**

A brilliant light.

A feeling of incredible lightness.

A soft breeze.

A roar that shook the stars.

When I looked down I could see the hollow clearly. Orihime was in its grasp, her lips parted and eyes glassy. They were both looking up at me…. Because I was flying.

Flying, with nothing supporting me.

"HELL YEAH!" I couldn't help but scream. Just when I thought nothing could be more brilliant than riding a firebolt, there was this freeness of riding the flow of spirit energy, as it ebbed and surged… a loose ocean connecting all things. I was alive, and flying, and I didn't really understand what was going on, but I felt incredible.

I got the vague impression of white clothing as I reached across my torso to the weight of a sword against my left hip. I drew it and kicked back a flow of spirit energy behind me, throwing myself towards the monster.

I barely caught the movement of Orihime's lips before she called out loud: "**I reject!**"

Before the blade in my hands could connect to the fanged mask, the hollow was disintegrating with a deafening roar. I was almost too shocked to stop myself before I hit the ground.

"Sorry…but…You took too long!" Orihime was saying as she brushed off invisible dust from her thighs. Then she raised her fingers in a peace sign and shouted: "VICTORY!"

Apparently she had used the hollow's shock at my transformation as an opportunity to launch Tsubaki, her attacker fairy, at the back of its skull, rendering my transformation useless! I just stabbed myself in the heart, over here! WTF!!! Well… that was anti-climactic.

"But… What?!?" Erg, that was intelligent of me. But right when I was about to ask a question, I had just noticed that there were no longer any chains around her. She seemed to understand, like she was in my head… but if what I think happened was the case than she probably _was_ in my head.

"A friend of mine was able to gain the powers of a shinigami when he thrust her sword through his heart…. Ah, that's right! A shinigami is a soul reaper." I knew that already, but I appreciated the effort. "I'm not a shinigami, but I thought the same thing might apply…" Her smile widened. "Wow, I'm a smart one! I even managed to only give you the sword and not ALL of my powers like Kuchiki-san did, which is good because I didn't even use the sword anyway!"

"Modest much?" I snapped. By now, the shock and exhilaration was wearing off, and I was starting to get annoyed. "Why didn't you just say 'Stabbing yourself through the heart will complete the bonding ritual' or something, instead of making it out like I was killing myself!"

"That's because… if it didn't work you really would've died." She said stoically. Then she shook her head, bemused. "I still can't believe you did it."

"What! What was all that 'trust me' bullshit then?!" I called back, disbelieving. I might've even stomped my foot, but if asked I would deny it!

"Harry." I stopped. I had never told her my name.

She touched her chest, drawing my eyes to where her hollow hole was… used to be. Now there was what looked like a metal plate in the shape of a pentagon with an embossed lightning bolt on it. It looked like the plate that had held my chain of fate in place.

"I believed in you."

My breath caught in my throat as my hands went to my own chest. I was able to breathe out, relieved, that I didn't feel a hole there. The plate and chain of fate were also missing, however. She looked saddened by my relief- like she had some terrible news to break to me.

It struck me like a bullet to the head.

"…_Why would I waste my belly on a weak little demi-hollow like you…" _

"…_.demi-hollow…."_

"_..like __**you**__.."_

"Oh God, no!" My hands, trembling, finally went to the one part of my soul I was afraid to touch, terrified. There, in place of my scar, I felt a jagged hole with six chains of fate attached to every corner of the lightning bolt shape.

If a soul were capable of throwing up, I'd be tossing up an entire life time's worth of food. Instead I collapsed to my knees, clutching the chains of fate and yanking at them with all my might. Someone was screaming… screaming at the top of their lungs… screaming from the core of their being… I didn't even understand it was me until the screams became muffled by the shoulder pressed to my mouth, as Orihime pulled me into an embrace.

"Harry." She said softly, her voice full of pain… her heart was full of my pain.

Because Orihime was my familiar now.

Because I had given her my heart to complete the ritual.

I stopped flailing about and closed my eyes, trying to swallow it all.

"Please explain." I choked out, letting go of the chains at last and shuddering in disgust.

"I don't really understand all of it either. Human beings have a single chain of fate that connects them to their bodies. Those with power to manipulate reiatsu, or spiritual flows, also have what's called a "soul sleep." That's like the well spring their power flows from."

She took a deep breath, and I felt her reluctance. _I felt it._ "Shinigami, soul reapers, they don't have chains of fate even if they have a body that's still alive, because a shinigami is one who controls death. One doesn't have to be a shinigami to have a soul sleep, either. I have one, and I had it when I was alive too. I know other live humans who have them. Kuro-" she stopped. "-An old friend of mine had two soul sleeps… one that was his own, and one he took from the shinigami whose powers he got by stabbing himself with her sword."

"The sword is called a zanpakto … a soul cutter. Each soul cutter has a name and personality, as well as a unique ability…. A zanpakto can be released by calling its true name. Release for a shinigami means the sword changes shape and its unique powers are ready to be used. Release for an Arrancar's zanpakto changes the arrancar's body's shape…. I don't know which will apply to you. This has never been done before."

My face was still in her shoulder as she said this, but she pulled back to look at me now and tapped one of the chains attached to my demi-hole.

"I've never heard of a demi-hollow who was still alive. I've never seen a hollow hole that wasn't round. The only thing I can conclude is that part of you.. died. This part of your soul.." she tapped the chain again. "is missing… attached to something… Well, six somethings."

She picked up the chain she had been tapping. It felt very strange for her to be touching it… dirty. I wanted to pull her hand away, but not because she was dirtying me.. but because I knew what those chains were and Orihime shouldn't touch something so filthy. It shamed me that that filth was attached to me.

She showed me the end of the chain she was holding. It ended in a melted chain link, like acid had burned it away.

"This is the only one of the six like this. I know you can't see the rest of them, but each one is slightly different. All the rest of them are still attached to something, or different things, but the ends of them disappear into the aether."

"Can they be cut?" I asked. She was silent.

Shun'oh came forward and spoke instead. "I wouldn't try it. If Orihime were a shinigami than you would've gained power over death. In that case, even if your chain of fate was severed you could've lived. But Orihime is an arrancar. If the chains are severed it's more likely that you…"

"Will die." I finished.

Shun'oh looked uncomfortable, and said. "That too. But, I was going to say, that you will probably become a complete hollow."

So, that was it? Even if I cut myself away from the chains of fate that bound me to Voldemort, I would die and lose my heart.

"What about sealing the hole…" I said, and pointed to the plate Orihime had in place of her hole.

"I've never seen anything like this before…" Shun'oh confessed. Then he fell out of the sky as Tsubaki landed a kick to the back of his head.

"Of course you haven't, idiot! We're part of Orihime, and if she hasn't seen it than none of us have!" The black fairy grouched.

"Tsubaki… don't be so violent… Sometimes Shun'oh has better instincts about things than the rest of us. He was able to tell what was going on when we first arrived here!" A new fairy was speaking now. She had several pink buns in her hair, goggles, and pink wings.

"In any case.. Harry-san should get back into his body, shouldn't he?" Said a fairy in a tight lavender suit, with an eye piece that made him resemble "the borg."

"Let me introduce you first." Orihime said. "You've met Tsubaki and Shun'oh. This is Lily." The pink haired fairy. "Hinagiku." The purple borg fairy. "Baigon." A fat, male, white-winged fairy. "..and Ayame." a shy red-cloaked female fairy, who hadn't spoken. "Together they are the Shun Shun Rikka, The Six Flowers of the Hibiscus Shield."

"Harry James Potter." I said with a nod of my head. They bowed and said hello.

"They were the power of my heart I had as a human before I was turned into an arrancar. I got the sword when I was changed… but I've never had a use for it, because I had the shun shun rikka."

I pulled the sword and sheath from my belt and took a look at it. It didn't look like the sword Orihime had been carrying. The sheath was black, where hers had been white. The grip was a grey braid over green. The guard was also silver, shaped into a long jagged Z like the cursed mark on my forehead. She told me it more closely resembled the katana shinigami wore, rather than her own kodachii.

"So what's its name?" I asked.

"I don't know. You'll have to find out for yourself." She stood up and stretched with a smile, like they'd just been running around the lake for a work out instead of fighting for their immortal souls. "It's yours now."

I stood up too.

"Thank you." I said, hating the choked way my voice came out.

She had come to me in response to my call for a familiar. Death. End. Soul. Break. Chains. Reap. Reject. Fate. Teach. Destroy. Friendship. Power. Love. I don't know how any of these related to her, but she had come. She had even given me a part of herself and bound herself to me… soul to soul.

In my mind, I saw myself summoning a phoenix, or a Quetzalcoatl or some other symbol of death and rebirth. I hadn't expected a busty, grey-eyed, tall, cute, sixteen year old girl. Fate… what was it up to now?

And speaking of fate, she'd told me the basics of her situation. I owed her an explanation as well. I would have to return to my body first, however, it would be hard to explain about magic without being able to show her. I'd also have to experiment with using my wand while in spirit form, assuming I could get back into this form at all.

"Wah! Cool!" Orihime exclaimed from behind me. "Ishida-kun will be so jealous!"

I turned to her with a raised eyebrow, questioningly. She gesticulated at what, I assume, was my appearance. I was wearing a tight fitting white tunic top with an elbow length white mantle and white trousers. The entire ensemble had black piping along every seam, and the mantle had a green lining, the same color as my sword's grip. It was tighter than anything I owned, but would probably be easier to maneuver a sword in than robes.

On the back of the mantle was a black six pointed star, the symbol, Orihime told me, of her Shun Shun Rikka. I thought it closely resembled what Orihime was wearing, and realized this must be some kind of Arrancar uniform. I was just happy to be clothed, as I hadn't been before.

"Just like a Quincy!" Then she twisted her face into an exaggerated scowl. "You better not let Ishida-kun see you, he's very particular about Quincy attire… he might sue you for copyright infringement!"

She was trying to make me smile. Though I had no idea who she was talking about, I obliged her.

She walked with me back to my body, chattering away about the kimono's and hakama's that soul reapers wore. Her Shun Shun Rikka had gone while she walked. They shimmered back into a set of six pointed star hair clips which affixed themselves to either side of her head, just above the ears. They rested in the form of hair clips until called to defend her. I thought that was infinitely more practical than carrying around a sheathed sword.

I lay back into my body and felt myself merge with it again.

Every inch of me tingled with pins and needles as though the whole thing fell asleep. It took several minutes of adjustment before I could move. Relief engulfed me as I realized I was still alive, and capable of using my human shell. Orihime stayed with me, now on the topic of bean paste, which further soothed my nerves.

"So… how about that rabbit?" I said, after I finally got some clothing on me.

"Magic show!" She squealed happily.

"There is much more to magic than you think…" I began, trying to think back to professor McGonagall's lectures to the incoming muggleborns. "Magic is divided into branches…"

An hour of explanations later, and my throat was raw, but I was able to stand up at last.

"So that's why you performed the summoning ritual. You need the power to defeat the dark lord who killed your parents and turned you into a demi-hollow."

I nodded.

"And those chains of fate on your forehead are attached to him." She said. We shared a moment of mutual disgust, but she pushed away the feeling for both of us and loudly declared: "Good! You'll be able to find him easily with those chains! He won't be able to escape your revenge!" We both smiled weakly at that.

"Are you sure you want to do this with me? Don't you have family and friends who will miss you if you stay with me?" The brightness in her eyes dimmed again.

"My family thinks I'm dead… well, I _am_ dead.. but I'm still here too, you know? I had friends that could see me, even though I'm dead, but they're still alive and they'll be going back to school and living their lives and I…"

I tried to imagine dying and becoming a ghost. I'd be stuck in between, watching my friends graduate and start families and move on, while I sat, never-changing, impotently watching the world turn. This was why ghosts turned into hollows, giving up their hearts so as not to feel the pain of being left behind.

"Isn't there anything… I mean, your friends are soul reapers right? Couldn't they bring you back to life or..?" She shook her head.

"Nothing can bring the dead back to life… not truly. There are pretty close substitutions, though. The best my friends could do would be to slay me with their zanpakto. That would purify my hollow hole and send me into the next life where I could find peace. But.."

"They couldn't bring themselves to do it.. and you didn't want to force them to do it, nor did you want to stick around reminding them and yourself that your dead, right?" She nodded.

"We'll talk about those 'substitutions' another time. I suppose for right now, you are stuck with me." She smiled at me, but I couldn't bring myself to reciprocate, because the worst part of the story had yet to be told.

"Schools out for us right now. We're just waiting for our exam results to come in before we go home for the summer holidays." I took a deep breath against the tightness in my chest. "I live with my aunt and uncle… Orihime, I don't know what kind of life I can offer you right now, because they don't allow me very much and they hate me."

"They won't be able to see me…" She assured him. "Only those with a soul sleep can see ghosts, I suppose you call those people magic-users. And even then, only very strong reiatsu can allow a person to see hollows and shinigami."

"Why is that?" I wondered, because even though I had the soul sleep, I didn't think I had never seen either type.

"I suppose because it would terrify people. The secrets of the afterlife are hidden to protect people from knowledge that would hurt them. It hurts humans to know about things they cannot change. Without enough reiatsu, seeing human souls being attacked by hollows and not having the power to change it would be terrifying. It was for this reason that humans with magical powers to defeat hollows, like the Quincy, came into being in the first place." I nodded. Then I rethought about what I knew.

"I have seen hollows, then…and I've fought them too." She blinked at me. "Which means my classmates should be able to see you, and maybe even squibs too." I didn't want to insult her, but I wasn't willing to explain myself to anyone at this point yet, either. "Will you hide? Until we get back to my Aunt and Uncle's? It's not that I'm embarrassed of you…"

She shook her head, smiling.

"I know your intentions." I had to remind myself of that constantly. She _knew. _"I'll hide in the middle space until you call me to you."

She snapped her fingers and a jagged rip formed in the middle of the air and opened up onto a black and white desert.

"Hueco Mundo … the hollow world." It looked like hell to me, and I shuddered again contemplating Orihime's existence. I caught her arm before she entered.

"No… don't go in there… I have another place you can hide, inside the castle, until we leave on the train.

She sighed gratefully and closed the tear she'd made.

I realized then how much she must hate that place too, and I was glad to keep her from it.

**Glossary of BLEACH terms: (i'll put this in my profile with the last list)  
**

Zanpakto:  Soul cutter. The swords Arrancar and Shinigami (soul reapers) wield.

Zanpakto release: To draw out the true shape and powers of the soul cutter by calling out it's name. The release for a shinigami will cause the sword itself to change. The release for an Arrancar will cause the Arrancar's humanoid body to change into that of a monster.

Shun shun rikka:  The Power of Orihime's heart, which was not completely erased when she was made into a hollow. (will be explained later)

Quincy: A magic user who can see and fight hollows. Quincy literally means 'destroyer.' More on this later.

Hueco Mundo: The hollow world, or 'space in between.' In is literally the space in between the living world and the afterlife. Shinigami, or soul reapers, guide souls through hueco mundo into the after life, called "soul society." Hollows reside in the space in between, unable to pass into soul society until their sins are purified by the blade of a shinigami. Hueco Mundo is a purgatory for hollow until they are cleansed of their hollow holes.

Demi-hole: The partially open hole of a soul that is on it's way to becoming a hollow. Demi holes are ALWAYS half-moon or syckle shaped, because they are hollow holes opening up in the chest of the soul. The soul with a demi-hole is called a demi-hollow.

Demi-hollow: A soul that is in transition to a hollow. These are always souls that are already dead, making Harry an anomaly.

Whole or Plus: A human soul that is dead, but not a hollow. Meaning it retains its heart and is simply waiting to be guided to the afterlife by a shinigami. It has no _hole_ therefore it is whole. Also called a _Plus_ in the original Japanese version.


	4. Chapter 4: Talks

So- a little bit of a friendlier reaction this time, but still a pretty frosty reception. For those of you who are avoiding this fic because of BLEACH- I'll give you a tip: http:// manga.bleachexile. com /bleach/1/1/

Free bleach manga is everywhere. Go read!

Stats: Reviews: 16, Hits total: 1109 Hits for the last chapter: 223 – which really tells me there are 223 people reading this story. This post: 8/27/07

Shout out:  Nes Mikel who is providing much BLEACH expertise and suggestions. This fiction was inspired by Nes' one shot "Grind" which I suggest you all go and read. www.fanfiction. Net /s/3062601/1/Grind

Challenge: I just now figured out how much fun this fic could be if I started adding images to the chapters. So I'll be posting this story on my apathetica home page with images taken/adapted from the manga. The challenge is to the bleach manga fans: See a picture that looks like it'll go with a scene from Hollow Whole? Color it/shop it and submit. Credits will be posted to you, and the pic will be included with the story as it gets posted to my home page. I'm doing it myself so keep a look out!

**Chapter four: Talks (on my own) **

"Harry, you should talk about this." I sighed again.

I loved my best friends. They had done more for me than I could ever have hoped, but sometimes they were so fucking annoying. Like right now.

"Drop it."

"Harry, if you leave it without talking it'll stay a festering wound inside you.. eating at your soul…" Hermione said.

Festering wound. Eating my soul. For a moment those words brought a thrill of terror into my heart, and I wondered, irrationally, and just for a second, if Hermione _knew._ Had anyone seen my soul while it was out of body, they too would know it was beyond repair. It was for this reason I decided not to share Orihime with anyone. Our relationship and Orihime's race would raise too many questions I didn't want to answer. How could I explain about my soul link to voldemort without revealing that I had become a demi-hollow?

The idea that I could become something like a dementor- a monster that existed by feeding off other people's souls. I had to stop thinking about it before I sicked up.

Reflexively, my hand went to my scar to check that it was still whole. My human body had no gaping chasm in its forehead, thank god.

"Is something wrong with your scar?" Oh Hermione, you had no fucking idea.

"Hermione, leave him alone- Hey, how about we grab some brooms and go flying?" Good old Ron! "Last chance for the summer, until you come over that is!"

I didn't want to fly, but if it would get me away from the inquisition I'd go out.

"Rooooon, Harry can't avoid the issue forever!" But Ron and I were already up and walking out of the deserted common room.

The express left tomorrow, so everyone was either packing or outside. I saw that most people were outside when we exited. Hermione had decided to tag along, which surprised me. She'd normally be spending every last precious minute she had left in the library… she must be really worried. It was making me feel bad about hiding Orihime from her. But Hermione would no doubt read that book, _The summoning_, then lecture me about the danger (even after the fact,) then try it herself, because she refused to be left behind.

Orihime admired Hermione for keeping up with me; Orihime, who had unintentionally been left behind by her friends.

"Got it all worked out? What you are going to say to your relatives?" Ron asked. Ah, it seems he's worried too.

I nodded, and changed direction. They followed me and sat after I did, under a tree.

"We aren't going to fly?" Ron asked.

"I'm tired." After the magic I had expended yesterday, coupled with staying awake with Orihime all night, I was tired. I could've went to bed last night, but I felt bad leaving her by herself… and I knew what nightmares waited for me in dreams. We also had much to talk about, and prepare for. Ron must be really worried because he frowned and didn't protest.

I knew I looked like death warmed over. Still, I'd take a sickly pale, raccoon eyed body over my deformed soul-form any day.

"So, your relatives?" I was hoping to side step that topic, but they deserved to know that much at the very least, so they wouldn't worry.

"I won't stay with them, not for long, anyway." They gaped at me. Both sat up straight and tense, and leaned in close.

"Where are you going to go?" Hermione asked hurriedly. "Harry, they'll make you stay. And I'm not talking about your relatives. Dumbledore and the Ministry…"

"If everything goes according to plan, they'll think I'm right where they put me." I interrupted.

"How are you going to manage that?" Ron asked. I shook my head.

"I'm telling you this in case something goes wrong and I'm found out. I want you guys to know that I'm ok, even if it looks like I've died." Their eyes widened, and Hermione's hands darted forward to grasp my shoulders. She looked at me with genuine fear.

"Harry, you can't go after him, you aren't ready!" I shook my head.

"Of course not. I'm going to train." Sigh. I had almost said I had found someone to train me, and that would've been a fatal error. Even what I'd said was much more information than I wanted to give them. "I'll tell you about it eventually, but it's still too soon right now to speak about all of it." I was ready to tell them all of it, except for my mangled soul… and until I could tell them everything, I didn't want to talk about any of it. But it wasn't fair to have them worry, if I was found out, for no reason.

"But I know the ministry and Dumbledore have me double-tagged with trackers. I can't just take off without all of Britain knowing about it… So I found a way…." Did I dare say it? "… around that, I suppose."

"But it's too dangerous to leave! You have to stay safe behind the wards on your house! Voldemort is out there!!!" Hermione said, tightening her grip on my shoulders. "Harry! Don't do anything drastic, you'll have plenty of time to train when you come back to school, and Ron and I will be able to do it with you."

This was the part that was going to hurt the most.

"You can't. Not this time." I closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to see the pain Hermione's face was about to reflect. If I stayed calm and rational, then they couldn't accuse me of trying to be some stupid Gryffindor hero. "This time I'm on my own… where I'm going to go… " I opened my eyes. "you can't follow me."

It _was_ painful to look at. Orihime would scold me for being so cruel to a loyal friend, if she didn't intimately know that there was nothing else for me to do. Ron and Hermione couldn't go with me to Hueco Mundo because they were not dead. Even if they could see and interact with me in soul-form, I was too ashamed to allow it. Orihime alone would know the secrets of my soul, and only because she was a part of it.

"I'm sorry." I said, and took a breath, determined to get through this. "Just in case something goes wrong.. it may appear that I'm dead or in a coma. I don't want you to worry about it. Just do me a favor and don't let them bury or cremate me or anything…" I tried to smile sardonically, but ended up laughing slightly hysterically at the looks on my best friend's faces.

"… Harry… Why would we think your are dead? What are you going to do to yourself!??" Hermione was so close and so vehement as she said this she got spit on my face. I had hoped to leave my explanation at that, but Hermione wasn't going to let it go. Orihime and I came up with a convincing lie if it came to this, and while I hated to lie to my friends, it was better than causing them the agony of worrying about something they couldn't understand.

"It's a fake body." I explained. "It looks just like me, and I was able to retie all the tracking tags to it. It's taken a lot of effort to transfigure it and then to animate it… I couldn't do it all the way, so it's got limited functionality and it may be faulty."

My friends gapped at me, completely gob smacked, and I felt slightly annoyed at their shock.

"I'm not totally useless in transfiguration, you know!" I said in mock outrage.

"That's NEWT level! What did you make it from? What about.."

"Her. Mi. O. Ne." Ron interrupted. "Let him finish." Ah, Ron! What a guy.

"The animation might fail, in which case I'll appear dead. If no one knows to look for anything weird, they'll just assume the body is real and I'm actually dead. If this happens, tell them I'm in a coma and nothing else, I don't want them doing anything to the body." Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Why?"

"Because it was a lot of effing work!" Hermione's eyes stayed narrowed. "They'd detect the transfiguration immediately if they medi-scanned it… they'll know what's going on.. Harry, what's the real reason?"

The real reason is that it will be my _real_ body I leave behind, and I didn't want anything happening to it or I really _would_ die! I blew air out of my nostrils, annoyed.

"If it wasn't real enough to fool the tracker-tags it wouldn't have worked to begin with…. In order to get it to that state…."

"You used a dark spell, didn't you?" Ron supplied.

I blinked. That wasn't what I was going to say, but it seemed like a good enough excuse. I nodded.

"What! The dark arts! Harry, you can't do that, it's a slippery slope!"

"Either that, or he used a real corpse…" Ron mused. _That_ had been what I was going to say, but I was doubly glad I didn't when Hermione looked horrified by the very thought.

Ron eyed me beadily from the corner of his eye, and I could tell he knew something was up but was prepared to help me deflate Hermione's inquest anyway. Words couldn't express my gratitude.

"Dad told me about some death eaters who were pronounced dead in the last war… They had found remains of them that fooled detection. When the death eaters were caught later, alive and well, they confessed to using some advanced type of transfiguration to duplicate their bodies perfectly to fake their own deaths. Because it had been used for an evil purpose, the spells were labeled dark arts. They aren't really dark though, just dangerously exhausting. It's the potential for abuse that makes them outlawed." He winked at me. "No wonder you look so tired."

Ron, if I felt that way about guys, I'd marry you!

Hermione huffed, but sat back on her heals. She'd let that go, apparently, but something else seemed to be troubling her.

"Is… Is it really that bad, with them?" Some other time, under different circumstances, I'd have been happy to sob my poor little orphan heart out about my shitty upbringing. But now, Cedric was dead, Voldemort was back, I had become a demi-hollow with an arrancar familiar, and the subject of a deadly prophecy. It wasn't the time to dwell on the past, when it looked like I had no future.

"I have to train. It's going to be him against me." Hermione was shaking her head in denial. "He's never going to leave me alone Hermione. Never. I will never have peace until he's dead. And…" Here was the real heart of the matter. "He killed my parents. It's not just me… the dead… the dead deserve revenge."

"That, I disagree with." Ron said. "What could the dead want, they are at peace.. whether they were murdered or not." Ron, I take everything nice I thought about you back… and fuck you.

"I know some ghosts that would disagree with you… but if you're still doubtful we could go visit Myrtle."

"Harry…" Ron looked uncomfortable, which meant he was trying to verbalize emotions. "Your parents, they died protecting you. I think they'd just want you to be happy and live your life… not.. I dunno, spend your time transfiguring fake bodies and plotting revenge." Hear that fate? You fucking asstard!

I didn't even want to begin arguing with that, considering the possibility I might run into my parents at some point in the future, and fate, the motherfucker, would make me eat my words.

"And Cedric?" was all I said.

Ron shuddered and changed his mind.

"Revenge sounds good." Ron said. I smiled sardonically, and even Hermione gave a small sad smile. "But only if you include me."

"And me." Hermione said.

'_And me_.'

'_Orihime! In my head again!!!! Listening with my ears!'_ I heard her laughter at my outrage, and thought at her: '_Just don't check out guys with my eyes… gross!_'

"It's a deal." I stood up. I really should pack. "Study hard over the summer. Make of list of things you want to learn and practice. Maybe we'll restart the dueling club, or something…"

"Maybe we'll be able to train with you by then?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"Maybe…" I capitulated. I might be more comfortable with it by then, after all.

* * *

I never thought I'd be relieved to be back in privet drive, but here I was, shaking with relief in the privacy of my darkened bedroom.

It wasn't the useless attack Malfoy and his gang had perpetrated, like they always did. It wasn't the awkwardness of saying goodbye to Ron, and never knowing whether to shake hands or give him a man-hug. It wasn't even the crying fit Hermione had on my shoulder when we exited the platform, although that was gut wrenching in and of itself. She had begged me not to do anything dangerous, and given passersby, including other Hogwarts students, the completely ass-backwards impression of our relationship. I thought I even saw a camera flashing.

I could barely answer her, at the time, because the feeling of pain was so great.

During the train ride, I had to separate from Orihime. We had confirmed that wizards could see arrancar with a first year hufflepuff no one would believe anyway. I didn't dare risk any of the ministry officials, who gathered on the platform to collect their children, seeing her. I knew how excited they were to kill off "dangerous magical creatures." Bastards.

Orihime said she could warp space and travel to me through hueco mundo in a matter of seconds, but I had to be stationary for it to work. She stayed hidden at Hogwarts as I boarded the train. What started off as a minor irritation had grown into a painful gaping sensation comparable to cruciatus as the gap between us grew wider.

She couldn't even come to me until I had stopped, and then, I couldn't get a minute alone until now. As soon as the door to my room shut I called to her. She immediately fell out of my ceiling and right onto my head.

Apologizing and helping me up, we stood there silently as the bond settled back down. It was still too new to tolerate the distance.

Orihime told me what I was feeling was very similar to what she went through when she turned into a hollow. Like one's heart is being torn out, leaving a gapping void of empty agony in its place. Having experienced it, I could understand the desire to do anything, even consume a human soul, to defend against it.

That was the existence of a hollow.

And that I could empathize, terrified me. I was even more afraid to return to my soul-form, sure that my demi-hole had expanded due to the abuse inflicted today. But, I didn't have time to waste skirting the darker parts of myself. The hole in my head was part of me, and the sooner I accepted it, the faster I could learn the name of my zanpakto. I was confident the zanpakto was the power I needed to defeat Voldemort.

Sorry Dumbledore, it won't be some mysterious force of love that disintegrates the dark lord into ashes. Nothing made me feel more confident than having the sword in my hand, and Orihime at my side. Learning its name would unlock its hidden power. A power the dark lord most certainly knew not.

First things first.

"Let's get something to eat and break it down for my 'family.'" I said. She nodded and we went down stairs.

Aunt Petunia was in the kitchen sipping tea, her eyes glued to a fashion magazine.

"Hungry, are you? Well don't expect dinner if you aren't going to pull your weight… you can…" She stopped as soon as she looked up. "Who is that?"

Oh. Shit.

"Who?"

"Don't 'who' me, you idiot! I'm talking about the girl behind…"

"Pet?" Uncle Vernon had walked into the kitchen. "Boy." He scowled at Harry. "Why aren't you making dinner?"

"Make. It. For. Yourself!" I snapped. "I'm going to eat a sandwich."

"The hell you are!"

"Who is she?" Petunia repeated. I couldn't help it. I snorted. Good job, fate! This is fucking hilarious! Petunia can see ghosts! Even better, her soul sleep had to be deep enough to see hollows! She was magic.

"She?" Vernon asked, perplexed. He looked around, his eyes passing unseeingly over Orihime several times. "Who are you talking about?" He said, after seeing no one in the room.

Petunia gave her husband an annoyed look, and was about to snap out a comment when she caught the smirk on my face. She paled. My smile widened.

So, she couldn't even tell Orihime wasn't a regular human? Who's a squib, after all? Ha ha ha!

"No." She denied, closing her eyes immediately.

"Oh yes." I cackled. I was soooo going to rub this in!

"What is going on, boy! Petunia, is he working unnaturalness in the house?! Just let me know and I'll chuck him out at once!"

"Yeah, tell him Auntie… You know how Uncle Vernon hates unnaturalness.…." I goaded.

"Now, see here boy! You don't take that tone…" Vernon began, but was cut off.

"A girlfriend." Petunia said shortly. "I saw him with a girlfriend on the platform.. or I assume she was based on the way they were embracing each other… maybe all _your kind_ are that loose." Petunia got a gleam in her eye that told me quite plainly the tables had been turned. "Vernon, He needs… _a talk._"

Oh no! Fucking no!

Orihime giggled, making me gape even more.

"I see!" Vernon said grimly. "You. In the living room. Now!"

Oh fucking hell!

"I absolutely DO NOT need a talk!" I protested.

"You'll not be impregnating ANYONE boy! I won't stand for it! Especially if she's one of your kind! It's bad enough you freeload on Petunia and I, but I won't let you inflict your useless offspring on…" I was distracted from the rant by Petunia eyeing Orihime beadily, and gesturing to a seat at the table.

"… probably some imbecile child, bouncing of the walls with poor vision, just like you did when you were young…"

Was Petunia inviting Orihime to sit? Was Petunia going to talk to Orihime? No. Effing. Way.

"… manditory neutering if you ask me! I hear some states still have laws of that sort on the books to prevent IDIOTS from breeding…. "

Orihime waited until Vernon grabbed me by the collar and started hauling me out of the room to pull a chair out and sit down. They were seriously going to talk!!!! I don't. Fucking. Believe it.

"…thought you'd be more interested in men, you always were a nancy boy after all!" That got my attention.

"Wait a second! I am NOT gay!" I'm not! And if I'm short, it's your fucking fault!

"I don't know whether to be thankful for that or not!" Vernon bellowed. "But enough of that! You listen here boy! If you want to keep your useless bullocks in place, you'll do as I say!..." And so it continued, the longest and most embarrassing conversation with Uncle Vernon I'd ever had.

It didn't help that I could hear Orihime giggling uncontrollably throughout from the kitchen. The traitor!

Oh Aunt Petunia, revenge on you would be swift and unmerciful for this!


	5. Chapter 5: Hime and Me

Delayed Post: Yes, I missed last week's post. No one commented, so I doubt anyone cared too much- but there was a death in the family. A 5 year old girl drowned in a pool at the gym. The three life guards didn't notice her- her father was the one who dragged her from the water after more than 15 minutes. She could not be revived. Her name was "Jena" which means "heaven" in Arabic. _We all come from God, and to him we return. Ina Lilahi wa ina ilayhi raji'oon. _

Stats: Last chapter hits: 324, Last chapter reviews: 6, Total hits: 2250, total reviews: 25 – warming up a little. Today's post 9/10/07 Who gives a damn after hearing that anyway?

Dedication: Little Jena. You're in a better place. I don't even know why I'm posting this fucking story – everything seems so absurd in the wake of your demise- and the reminder of our own frail mortality. You have nothing to fear- but we, who have lived longer, have much to account for.

**Chapter five: 'Hime and Me**

"Jasmine… loose leafed." Aunt Petunia pronounced as she produced the tin from the pantry. "Make that with breakfast." She shot a look towards the newest resident of number four, but directed the instruction towards me.

So. Unfair!

"That was really nice of you!" Orihime gushed, knowing Petunia wouldn't respond with the two whales in the room. Actually, I had yet to witness Aunt Petunia talk to Orihime at all, but I knew it happened. Orihime claimed my aunt was… gasp/shock…. Nice!

Last night, for instance, Orihime stayed in the kitchen with Aunt Petunia long after Vernon was done "talking" with me. Later, Orihime came into my room with her hair intricately braided, smiling. I offered her my bed, but she said she was going to use the guest room when she wanted to go to bed. I know _I_ hadn't told her about the guest room.

The situation was so entirely weird, I wondered if I really had died and was now in some strange sort of hell where everything was the opposite of how it should be.

I was chopping vegetables for an omelet when we made our first mistake. Orihime, on reflex, moved the tea pot onto the stove.

A chair hit the floor with a snap, as Uncle Vernon jumped up abruptly enough to knock it over. "B… B… Boy!!!!" He screamed, pointing at the tea pot. Then, when his brain was able to function through the rage, he jumped to the window and opened it, ready to receive the owl bearing my expulsion letter.

"Oh yeah…" To uncle Vernon's eyes, the tea pot had moved of its own volition, which translated to magic usage on my part. I was ready with a lie, however, and Aunt Petunia couldn't counter it without revealing her own closet abnormality. "The letter won't come from that. It's wandless magic and undetectable to the ministry sensors." I turned around and smiled one of my unpleasant smiles. "I can lift up all sorts of things like that! Wanna see more?"

"You stop that this instant! I won't tolerate that evil in this house!" Bellowed the fat idiot.

"I can't always control it, it happens of its own volition. It's part of my… magical puberty." That sounded nice and esoteric enough. "When my magic matures and lots of cool stuff happens. I don't even know my own strength!" Aunt Petunia was scowling at me, and I thought I should quit while I was ahead. "Sorry if it bothers you, I'll try to finish breakfast without doing it again."

While Aunt Petunia was being kind to Orihime, I'd do what I could to keep her happy…. Or at least, less pissed off with me.

"Sorry." Orihime said to Aunt Petunia. She backed away from the counter so as not to tempt her idle fingers again. Aunt Petunia nodded, seemingly to herself.

There were only four chairs at the Dursley breakfast table, and even if there were a fifth, Dudley would probably need it for his second butt cheek. Also, I could hardly pour a fifth cup of tea without notice. This arrangement was going to take some getting used to… Hmmm. I poured a large cup of tea into a coffee mug and asked to be allowed to sit on the porch while I ate.

"go on then." Petunia sniffed, before Vernon could forbid it. I left before he could call me back, and Orihime attempted to unobtrusively grab the sugar bowl on her way out.

"Pet… Did you see? He did it again! What if the neighbors see?" Uncle Vernon was protesting as I opened the back door.

'Hime and I ate from the same plate and cup, her happiness filling and warming me more than the food.

"I haven't eaten since becoming a hollow." She sighed happily. "I missed it so much!"

"Make a list of what you want to eat, we'll try to get through all of it." I offered. Her joy was like the rising sun, and I vowed never to take food for granted again.

"I don't need to eat food. In fact, I'm not sure I should. The only types of souls that need to eat are shinigami and hollows. Shinigami eat food made of reiatsu, to replenish what they expend fighting hollows. Hollows eat souls, which are just concentrated reiatsu… I'm not sure what I should do…" She said. "I don't want to eat souls…"

"Then do what makes you happy." I suggested. When she didn't smile, I decided to change the subject. "What the hell did you say to my aunt!"

"She asked me why I was haunting you." Orihime looked uncomfortable. "Apparently your headmaster sent a letter here telling them you saw a classmate die, and that they should treat you delicately. Your Aunt thinks I'm that classmate, and that I'm haunting you now." So Aunt Petunia thought Orihime was just some average ghost. I wondered, slightly bitterly, if she'd like Orihime so much if she knew Orihime could still use magic.

"Has she seen spirits before?" Harry Potter, you are asking if your "I epitomize normal" Aunt has seen ghosts BEFORE. Welcome to bizarro-land.

"Yes, she has, but I don't think I should tell you what she told me about that. It would be like breaking her confidence. Your Aunt is a very complex person." Un-fucking-believable. I didn't know what was more outrageous, the fact that my Aunt could see ghosts and was therefore 'abnormal' like me, or the fact that she was treating what she must think was a dead magical class mate of mine as a human being!

"Why does she like you?" I asked, so outraged that it came out completely wrong.

"Why shouldn't she like me!" Orihime demanded.

"No! I mean… she hates anything abnormal!"

"So I'm abnormal?"

"Arg! Are you _trying_ to misunderstand me?!" Just like a woman!

Orihime huffed. "Stu-pid."

"Drink your 'jasime tea… loose leafed.'" I huffed right back. It was so NOT fair.

"Before I… Before I was in Hueco Mundo… I prided myself on my ability to make friends with anyone. I didn't have much of a family anymore. My parents had abandoned me and my old brother, who raised me, died, and I didn't live with anyone, so the friends I made were my family. Nothing was more precious to me than making friends." She said. _(I've lost my precious people as well, so don't be jealous of me.)_

"My whole life I've tried to make _that woman_ happy. There was no pleasing her. She hated me always, and nothing I could do would change that." (_And you just walk in and she likes you immediately, despite your magic, it's not fair.) _

I breathed in and out. I was being childish. Aunt Petunia was so far from being worth fighting with Orihime over, it would only be more stupid if the fight was over Malfoy.

"Sorry." I said, after I'd calmed down.

"Harry, I know this is hard for you to hear or understand… but that… Your Aunt's feelings, they really have nothing to do with you."

"Even better! I love being hated and tortured for things I can't even help." Orihime looked like she was going to protest, but I continued. "If I'm hated, I'd rather have had the chance to fuck up spectacularly first. I'm sure I could've done something truly terrible, if I put my mind to it."

She smiled. Fight over. Good, it was starting to become painfully stupid.

"What are we doing today?" Orihime asked.

"It's Monday, so Vernon will be going to work soon. We'll need to talk to Petunia afterwards and explain why she'll soon have a lifeless shell to take care of instead of a slave to order around." I groused.

"Harry.." Orihime began, but cut herself off. Thank god. "Are you sure you want to train in Hueco Mundo? It's really dangerous."

"We'll have to keep to the outskirts where the other weak hollows reside. I don't know what else to do. There isn't any where I'd feel safe training that isn't magical. And magical means wizards and wizards would be able to see me.." I sighed. "If I were recognized, however unlikely that is…"

"It would cause a lot of problems."

"The only thing worse than an incompetent fourteen year old savior, is a savior going dark. If anyone saw my soul…" It really was an ugly sight. I hadn't even gotten a look at it and I knew how horrible it must be.

"A wise man told me that no one is more unforgiveable to someone than himself, and no one is more deserving of their forgiveness."

"Who said that?"

"No one, I made it up just now. It was good wasn't it! I should write a book!" I smiled. Ah Orihime, never change. "I know you want to quote it!" She laughed. "Harry, it doesn't look that bad, you know?"

"The chasm in my head completely eclipses the rest of my face. There are six rings piercing the flesh around the hole in my face, widening the stupid thing with every tug. As Voldemort gets stronger, my hollow-hole tears wider. It would be hideous enough without the ridiculous caped uniform."

She laughed. "You've even got the glasses too… Ishida-kun would definitely sue you."

"Meh! I'm the original, I've been doing this since I was a year old…. I should sue him!" I looked away. "I have to finish this before I become a full hollow. I don't know if I'd still care enough to fight him if I lost my heart."

"Don't worry so much about it… I'm keeping your heart safe." She pointed to the plate attached to her chest, visible over her white and black uniform. We had one heart between the two of us now, and I could only hope it would be enough.

"Let's do this." I said.

"Yes, but first." She picked up the plate. "Dishes."

"Orihime, quit picking things up… you'll scare the neighbors and I'll never hear the end of it."

"Only if you quit talking to me in public or people will start saying Harry Potter has an invisible friend!"

* * *

"It's even more disgusting than I remember."

It turns out the river Styx was real… or as real as anything could be in the world in between. It was a ghastly sheet of mercury that, despite being a river, stood still in stagnation, like a jagged crack in the otherwise endless sea of sand. Like the rest of hueco mundo, it was a timeless, still gray. It also reflected my visage more truly than any mirror.

I was right and wrong. Wrong, because it wasn't as horrible looking as I thought it would be. The chasm _felt_ much larger than it looked, but it didn't obscure the rest of my face. The chains were still attached to each of the six points of the lightning bolt, like piercings in loose flesh.

Right, because the chasm was still a hideous nauseating hole in my head, and the chains bound to it were a constant source of sickness and violation I couldn't wait to be rid of… even if it meant I would become a hollow in the end.

The chains were the most distracting feature. While in Hueco Mundo, they wrapped around my body and disappeared into the endless sea of sand right beneath my feet; Somehow, without being anchored to any _one_ spot. It was as though the sand was water I could drag the chains through, without encountering any resistance. The chains lengthened when I jumped, links appearing out of the earth beneath my feet without stretching the chains themselves. It was like they were trying not to be in the way.

Orihime said it made me look like what was called "an earth-bound demi-hollow." She started to describe the time she had seen one, while she was still alive, but like most of her stories she cut herself off when it came to describing her friends, and how they participated. Her friends, and one of them in particular, were too painful a topic for her still.

Other hollows could grab the chains of fate attached to me, so trying to come at them from out of the sky wasn't a good strategy. I also found that I couldn't fly in Hueco Mundo, for reasons Orihime was unable to explain. She said it wouldn't work in soul-society, the afterlife world, either. That was kind of a downer, as I always imagined heaven as a place where you could fly around freely.

We hadn't encountered any other hollows yet, but Orihime said she had a friend nearby we could stay with if we had to, who was also a capable healer. I was glad she had a fellow hollow friend, but understood that not even the greatest of friendships could make Hueco Mundo anything other than a desolate purgatory.

I drew my blade, wondering how to go about training.

"Yoruichi-san was the one who trained me…" She confessed. "The first thing she told me to do was remember the first fight with a hollow I had used my powers in." That was a problem, as I hadn't used any of them yet.

A brainwave hit me, and I positioned the sword in front of me. I closed my eyes and remembered my fight with the dementors in my third year. My patronus rejected the demontors, but a soul cutter could kill them.

My friends were in danger. Sirius was going to be kissed. I was finally going to get a home not with the Dursley's with my father's best friend and no one would take that away from me.

"Expecto Patronum!" I yelled and slashed.

Nothing happened.

"Is that the name for your Zanpakto?" Orihime asked. I shook my head.

"It's a spell wizards use to repel dementors… I thought it might be the one type of magic to resonate with the soul cutter. I tried to force myself to remember defending my friends." I shook my head. "It's hard to feel anything right now…"

Orihime nodded. "Hueco Mundo is a world for hollows to rest in and live. It deadens all feelings to help the endless hunger of a hollow abate. Maybe training here won't work for you. However, even if we find a place in the real world wizards won't notice, the spiritual activity might attract a shinigami." She clasped her hands. "They would separate you from your body and forcibly send your soul to soul-society, the afterlife."

"Looks like it's just you and me, right here, then. Why don't we try sparring?"

"Ha! I wonder if you can keep up!"

"Try me."

A/N's: 

This story is supposed to be filled with dark humor, but I can't really manage any humor at this point. I'm stuck on chapter 20 right now and I don't know how soon I'll be able to start writing again.

On translations: I'm using "soul reaper" as opposed to "death god" for the same reason that I will use "king of the afterlife" instead of "God." It's the same reason cartoon network uses "the underworld" instead of "hell" and "the afterlife" instead of "heaven." I'm trying it avoid a religious fiction- this is fiction, not the book of the dead and I'd be offending myself if I spoke so easily of death and the afterlife. Semantics are important for believers- so if you note the translation differences please be aware it is intentional.

Deathly hallows: (spoilers in this paragraph only)  I finished it, but it won't change what I do with this story. Any similarities are coincidence and good guess work on my part (although anyone with half a brain could've called the Regulus as RAB and the locket – I mean come on.) I was really sure she'd kill Harry once I read HBP and concluded harry was a horcrux – that was the main reason I wrote this story.

Challenge and blog: I was working on that- obviously shit happened. No one responded anyway so it doesn't matter.

Enjoy this story- I'll try to get myself to write again.


	6. Chapter 6: The blade and me

A/N: So, it's been a while. Today is Eid al Adha – the day Muslims celebrate the completion of Hajj, the pilgrimage to mecca, for those Muslims who made the trip this year. This is my holiday treat to anyone who cares about this fic. I'm still stuck on chapter 20. I'll prolly post a thread on the forums about chapter 20 and see if any of you can give me some inspiration.

Stats: total reviews: 42, reviews for last chapter: 15, total hits: 7374, hits for last chapter: 1500 (whoa, why aren't any of you reviewing?)

**Chapter six: The blade and me**

"Benehime."

"Beni-hime!" Nothing.

"Hmmm… try Hieneko."

"High-neko!" Nada. "Maybe something in English, or Latin?"

"That's right! Try…. Beowulf!"

"…Orihime…"

"Try it!"

"Beowulf!"

Two months.

"Shakespeare!"

"Orihime!" It was late July now. Our days were in a firm pattern.

"Ok, ok… but maybe it's something from Shakespeare… like 'Tempest'."

Wake up. Make breakfast. Eat. Drop my body off in my room, and depart to Hueco Mundo.

"Tempest!" Nothing.

The wards didn't even twitch, even though I technically died every time I left my body like that. Good job, Dumbledore, you really know what you are doing. I feel so fucking safe.

"Othello." What?

"Orihime…"

Opening the portal into purgatory didn't faze the wards either.

"Why not? Your sword is black and white!"

We'd spend the morning in Hueco Mundo training. We tried to keep our location varied, but inevitably….

"It's black and silver… My zanpakto isn't called Othello!"

… a hollow would come and bother us. Sometimes we'd fight it and kill it. Sometimes it would leave. Sometimes we would leave.

"Ok…ok… Why don't you try some names then!"

In the afternoon we'd try to find the name of my zanpakto. We tried many different ways of getting it to tell me its name.

"Prongs!"

I tried talking to it. Meditating in my spirit form.

"Padfoot!"

Sleeping in my spirit form while holding it… trying to dream the name.

"Moony!"

Calling out different spells and using it like a wand…. Didn't work either.

"Sirius!" I felt a little tingle that time. "Padfoot." I tried again. Nothing. "Grimm?" More tingling. "Grimm? Is that your name?"

We had resorted to calling out random names. This was the last ditch attempt before I stabbed myself with it.

"It's close, but not right. Maybe a compound word? Grimm… something?" I asked.

Orihime looked uncomfortable, but softly, as though she was scared, called out: "Grimmjow."

"Ha ha ha…" The chuckle echoed around the endless gray matter of Hueco Mundo. Orihime looked truly terrified for the first time I could remember. "HAHAHAHA!!!"

"Show yourself!" She called out. The Shun Shun Rikka popped into existence, and the two of us moved into position, back to back, ready to fight: "GRIMMJOW!"

My sword vibrated in my hand again, but didn't change shape or explode with power like it was supposed to if I had called out its proper name. I could only conclude it was, instead, resonating with the hollow now stalking us.

"Hhhhiiiimmmmeeee…." I couldn't tell where it was coming from, because it echoed from everywhere. The Shun Shun Rikka circled us, ready to face a threat from any direction. "…ffoooooouuuuuuuund yoooouuuuuuuuuu…."

Neon blue spiked hair, an open white jacket revealing a huge hole in the abdomen, low rising white hakama… and two sets of grim jaws, one human one hollow, leering in a smile that took up his entire face. It wasn't just any hollow, it was an Arrancar.

"Ulquiorra? What the hell happened to you?" Sigh… this wasn't the first time someone had made that mistake.

Arrancar were engineered, not born. All Hollows and Shinigami knew that. The uniform my soul form wore was close enough to an arrancar uniform, coupled with my zanpakto, lack of a hollow mask, and ability to be in hueco mundo, to make everyone assume I was an arrancar. The Arrancar I most closely resembled, Orihime told me, was Ulquiorra. Other Hollows had assumed I was him as well, and the smarter ones left without a fight just because of that. Apparently Ulquiorra was a bad-ass, so I didn't mind being confused with him.

"No… you smell different. What have you been doing Princess? Been making your own Arrancar behind Aizen's back?"

The engineer of the Arrancar, was.. surprise, surpise.. a dark lord, named 'Aizen Sosuke.' He chose powerful hollows called "menos" to transform into arrancar, and serve him. Orihime was a human whose powers were interesting enough for him to kidnap, kill, and transform into an arrancar. He was careful to do it in such a way, that her human powers would be preserved through the transformation. In doing so, he unintentionally preserved most of her heart as well. That was why, in comparison to other hollows, Orihime's hole had been so small.

"Grimmjow… what do you want? I.. I'm not going back!"

Aizen kept Orihime locked up, and manipulated her into helping him fight against her friends, who had come to Hueco Mundo to save her. Unable to help her friends because of her Arrancar status, and unable to convince them to abandon her, she escaped Aizen and fled to another part of the world, until her unique scent could no longer be detected, so her friends wouldn't come after her.

"Of course not… who would want to?" Grimmjow tossed out carelessly. "Although, Aizen-bastard has a pretty hefty ransom for anyone who brings you back… in mostly one piece."

Aizen and his arrancar were the real reason Hueco Mundo was so dangerous for Orihime and I. But we could hardly seek sanctuary with the shinigami either. It was the job of the shinigami to slay hollows, not keep them safe. Even if the shinigami were Orihime's former comrades, they would never be able to trust her again. Training in the real world might attract the attention of the shinigami as well, which would defeat the purpose of Orihime hiding.

"Is that ransom enough to buy you, Grimmjow?"

Just because Aizen had engineered the Arrancar, didn't mean all of them were ready to bow and scrape to him. Grimmjow must be one of those, which meant it might be possible to get out of this without fighting.

"Hmmm… maybe, maybe not. Do you have something better to offer me, princess?" His spiritual energy, which he had been repressing while he stalked us, exploded.

The feel of his reiatsu was enough to make me drop to my knees, and if not for my pride I would've done so. My blade had warned me about him, but without even knowing its name, I was no match for an Arrancar.

"What do you want?" Orihime said, but I could tell by the tone of her voice she already knew the answer.

He started to walk forward. "What do I always want?" His smile grew even wider, then he disappeared.

I couldn't have even told you what he hit me with, or where… only that I was flying through the air, too dazed to even try to right myself. And then I was rolling over and over and eating sand… before thankfully skidding to a stop. I never planned on moving again. I heard Orihime scream a warning.

Then I was flying through the air again, but it had nothing to do with my own momentum. I felt that hit to my sternum keenly, and knew it was a kick that had cracked several of my ribs.

"Harry!" I had to retaliate, even if I was completely out matched.

I gripped my blade, which I had learned in the little training I'd had, never to let go of even if you were having the shit kicked out of you, and readied it as I finally started to fall back down.

"Already drawing your zanpakto?" Grimmjow sneered as I fell towards him. He raised a hand and red energy gathered in to it. "Pathetic!" He fired.

'_Cero! Dodge!_' But I didn't need Orihime's frantic instructions to know that. I grabbed one of my earth bound chains of fate and yanked. It gave me the leverage, despite my uncontrolled falling, to pull myself out of the path of the cero rising up at me.

I hit the ground gracelessly, but without time to right myself, as Grimmjow was upon me.

I hated to use one of my best, and only, moves so early on- but no choice. I let the chains of fate yank me down into the sands of Hueco Mundo.

"What? He ran?!" Grimmjow exclaimed. "Who are you hanging around with Princess? Some loser who abandons you like that?"

This was only going to work once, if at all. The chains of fate that sunk into the sands of Hueco Mundo inhibited me from flight, but gave me better control of earth. It was a parlor trick, really, but I could use the chains to move me through the sand, as though it were air. I did this now until I was underneath the arrancar, then, stealing myself, thrust my sword upwards.

He dodged. Of course he did. But only just. And he at least looked startled to see me appear out of the sand. I tried my best not to ruin the moment, but couldn't help coughing up a mixture of sand and blood. He had really nailed me.

"What the hell are you?" Grimmjow demanded as he took a good look at me.

"He's my friend!" Orihime said, appearing by my side. A flash of yellow light and Shun'oh's reassurances let me know she had started healing me. That was good, because I could barely stand.

"Your… what?" Grimmjow took notice of the plate affixed over Orihime's hollow hole. "What the hell is that?" He gaped at her for a moment, gob smacked, then his eyes turned on me. There was something primal glinting there, aside from the overwhelming bloodlust.

"You traded your heart for her sword, _human_?" Well… that was one way of putting it, I suppose. A way that made me look like a power-mongering asshole.

"Just when I thought…"

Oh shit. He was drawing his own sword.

".. humans couldn't get any more despicable…" The sword was all the way out, and he started approaching. "… one of them goes and surprises me all over again." He pointed the sword straight at my heart. "You!" He brought the blade above his head. "I will make my **prey**!"

I grabbed Orihime and we fell through the sand, just as the blade was brought down. Even in the protection of the earth, with Orihime's shield protecting us from above, we still felt the blast. Worst yet, I felt a tug on my forehead that told me he'd gotten a hold of one of the chains of fate attached to me, right before he yanked me out of the earth by my forelock like a weed.

Holding me too high to touch the ground with his left hand, he swung with the right. I managed to lift my own sword and parry, so he raised his foot and kicked me in the stomach. I flew into a dune, and ate dirt again. I tried to sink into the sand on instinct, but he still had a hold of one of my chains, and he yanked me back towards him before I could even stand.

"This is kinda fun!" He said, before I took another kick to the abdomen and ricocheted back into the sand dune. "Like a yo-yo!"

"**I reject!**" Orihime screamed, but Grimmjow just knocked Tsubaki aside with his blade. He didn't even have to turn his murderous gaze away from me to do it. "Tsubaki!"

Ah.. that again. Orihime mentioned she had trouble killing humanoids like shinigami and arrancar. She couldn't work killing intent into Tsubaki if she aimed him at a human face.

Grimmjow was advancing again, casually this time, his blade against his shoulder, his gait unhurried.

"Well fate… this is it." I said. "It hasn't been pleasant, but it certainly was interesting. At the very least, take care of Orihime."

Grimmjow was on me now, squatting over me with his blade poised. There was that funny look again. I was surprised I'd noticed it through the blood in my eyes.

"I've never seen so many chains of fate before… or a hole like that." He commented.

"Are you going to take several hours explaining your dubious history and nefarious plans to me, giving me ample time to escape?" I asked, slightly hopeful. I felt along my chains of fate, but he still had one of them in his hands. So much for that…

"HAHAHHAH!!!! As if! You'll never catch me monologing! I'm gonna to kill you, bitch!"

"Well.. fuck you very much then." I coughed, blood bubbling from my lips.

Grimmjow moved suddenly, and I was ashamed to admit that I flinched. I opened my eyes right away, however, as I felt the heat pass over me. _Red light._ A Cero. I turned my head as much as I could with a fractured jaw. Orihime's hands were out, and her Shun Shun Rikka were all assembled in a circle, their bodies smoking slightly like a gun that had just been fired.

"Wow… you managed to get one off?" Grimmjow commented, looking more amused than anything else. "I thought with your inability to kill you weren't even worth my time… But if you can manage the killing intent needed to use a cero…" He poised his sword. "That changes things."

I wanted to tell Orihime to run, but I wouldn't have in her position so I didn't bother. Instead I worked up the strength to twist my blade around in my hands.

"See what you pushed me into doing, you stubborn bastard." I told the sword, before I shoved it into my own belly.

Last time I transformed, white energy blinded me. This time, everything went dark.

I had a few minutes to wonder if I'd just fucked up royally again, when I heard the voice.

"You aren't ready." I turned around, gasping. Orihime and Grimmjow were frozen in the motions of mortal combat… as though time had stopped. Hueco mundo was usually a dark gray place, but a blue tinge covered everything and darkened it further. "You aren't ready to hear my name."

"Orihime and I are about to be slaughtered… I think I can take whatever it is you have to say to me if it means all of us will keep on breathing!"

"Ready, are you?" A familiar, but different, voice called out with a sneer. "You can't even look at yourself in the face without flinching." I snapped around, my fingers feeling for a wand that wasn't there to face:

"Tom Riddle?" The sixteen year old Lord Voldemort lazily leaned against Grimmjow's arm, which was frozen in a downward swing of his sword. He looked like he had when he had emerged from the diary, with the exception of the chain around him, the corroded end of which he swung around in his hand. He also had a large hole through his chest. It wasn't a typical hollow hole, which was normally a clean sphere. It was a jagged, gory gulch that had been burned into his chest, surrounded by the pure black stains of ink and the foam of poison… the remnant of the basilisk fang.

"What?" I recognized that chain around him. It was the only chain whose ending I could perceive.. the one with the melted link…. One of the chains of fate attached to my demi-hole. "I was connected all along to your diary?"

"That's right, Harry Potter. And when you defeated me, I got stuck in here. Think of me as a war prize."

The very idea that I had assimilated the remains of the diary made me want to tear the flesh from my bones until I ripped out the taint…

"God… no! What the hell am I?" Riddle rolled his eyes, as though my despair was merely theatrical.

"That's the point isn't it… the answer is staring at you in the face but you can't take it. No wonder you can't hear your zanpakto's voice, even though it's been screaming at you this whole time. You're deaf to its call, like you're blind to what's in front of you."

"I'm not a hollow… but you are. My earth-bound chains of fate aren't bound to earth at all… they are bound to you. I'm still alive, but you aren't…" I said, wondering how long I could sustain this unreality until I bled to death.

"You say those things without believing in them, Harry Potter." Tom replied. "I've listened to you tell your familiar the prophecy, but you don't really believe it. You don't even truly believe in your own magic, despite the fact that you've been using it for years. You act like, at any moment, you'll wake up in that closet the muggles kept you in…."

"What.. of course I… never mind." I turned away from Riddle. I didn't have time for his mind games. "Sword! Soul cutter! Please, I need you to talk to me." Tom laughed behind my back.

"All the world is just a dream to you Harry… and you've been trying so hard to wake up…" Tom continued.

"I've been trying to _live_ you fucker! This is all your fucking fault!" I screamed at him.

"Liar!" screamed the first voice. My sword thought I was a liar?

"Fuck you!!!" I screamed at it! "Come here and say that to me! This is just great… even my own soul cutter hates my guts."

Tom laughed again. "See, you can't take it!"

I blew out a breath. I didn't have time for this bullshit. Orihime needed me.

"Ok…Are you saying that I blame myself? I already know that! Are you are saying I want to die?" My whole body shook as a wave of power unexpectedly bore down on my head.

What the hell was happening? Did I say something? But what I did I say?

"I want to die." I tried again. Now the wave was like gravity had increased upon me tenfold. "Want to die… Deathwish!?" No, that wasn't quite right either, but it was close.

"You can't even stand to admit the truth." Tom taunted, still twirling the chain of fate around his fingers. "You're too scared to even admit what it is you truly desire… much less take the power into your hands to achieve it."

"Put it down." I yelled at him, permanently distracted by his presence. "Let go of the chain! You have NO right to be here! This is my body- my _soul_ – You have. NO. RIGHT!" I screamed, and the power pressing in on me flowed with me, if only for a moment.

Tom dropped the chain, startled, giving me a speculative look.

"I know what I want! I want you gone! I want you dead and buried… and I want to be the one to do it! I want revenge!" A part of me I had always shied away from was opening up now, turning its fanged and bloody face towards the light. Rage was filling me up. "I want to KILL YOU!"

The power was flowing into me now, I could feel the gates that had held it in creaking open, feel the chains that bound it down straining.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" And now Tom was feeling the spirit pressure being exuded onto him. He dropped to his knees, gasping. The sight satisfied the ugly snarling beast I'd kept caged, but it wasn't enough. I could see Orihime frozen behind him, Grimmjow's sword still poised above her. And Tom kneeling wasn't the same as Tom dead. For one thing, even if he stopped playing with the chain of fate, it was still wrapped around him. It was still tied to him. The taint of Riddle was attached to my soul, tearing a hole in my heart.

"I know what I want." I told the voice. "I want to protect Orihime." My heart. "I want the power to defend myself." My life. "And most of all…" I looked at Tom. "I want to be free!" My soul.

The pressure built and I heard a chain snapping. "I want these chains of fate gone!" The door opening further. "Even if I have to die to do it!" The panting of the beast… coming out. "**Even if I have to kill."**

The wave crescendoed into an all mighty roar, and I roared too, finally able to admit the truth to myself.

"I had been looking for a way out all along, but I was never ready to do whatever it took. When the pain was too much, and I wanted to die, I wasn't able to kill myself… And when someone hurt me terribly, and deserved death, and I wasn't able to kill them. My soul's been twisted by Voldemort, and the prophecy has bounded me to him… **I want out**!" The power exploded.

This time, there was light. In front of me, tall as a man, was a jet black jackal. It's erect ears looked more like horns. Around its neck, wrapped six times, was a snake with a pattern that resembled chains printed on its back. It hissed at me:

"_you cannot escape fate… only run towards it and end it with your two hands…"_ I understood that now.

"Then incant your intentions, and call my name.." said the jackal.

The light was fading, the blue that had frozen Hueco Mundo was receding, and time was starting to move again.

"_Sever the chains of fate! Rain your vengeance upon those who would control you!" _I held the sword above my head and screamed: "THANATOS!"

A/N: Thanatos meaning 'deathwish.' Also considered 'harbinger' and nex-votum or malo-nex for 'deathwish'; Thanatos is used in the Freudian meaning of 'desire for death' as opposed to thanatos the roman god of death. Since it takes the form of Anubis, the deathgod/deathwish name Thanatos seemed most appropriate.

a/n2: my blog, apathetica.imaniam. com is now up. For those of you who are feeling the urge to draw some fan art, feel free to PM me and I can post it there. I'll prolly only use the forum on this site, however, so more people can participate easily.

a/n3: 20 points for the true fan who spots the chapter title.

**OMAKE: (JKR and the BLEACH crossover) **

Time froze and Orihime, Grimmjow and the landscape were painted a frozen blue.

"I'm ready." Said a voice. I swung around. There, sitting in a chair with a laptop, was an extremely harassed looking blonde woman. "I'm ready for this to be over with!" She snapped.

"Are you… my zanpakto?" I asked, confused. Why would my zanpakto be a forty-something blonde woman?

"Zan..?" She asked, looking up. Then her eyes seemed to widen. "Ah, I see! Yes, this is perfect!" She started typing furiously and out of nowhere popped a huge shiny blade. "Here we go!"

"This is the true shape of my Zanpakto?" I asked. OOooooo shiny! I like.

"That's right! You should be able to kill everyone with it! Please go ahead and do so. Make sure you kill yourself too so there aren't any sequels… I MEAN! … so you don't..become a … hallow." She said. I wondered what a hallow was, until I realized she must've been talking about a hollow.

"But.. what's it's name?" I asked. "So I can call it again?"

"Oh that! Ummm… it's called 'deus ex machina'!"

"What?" I shrugged. "Whatever, so long as it works. Umm… what is the incantation?"

"Incan… Ok, umm… how about this: 'Destroy the deathly hallows- Deus Ex Machina!" She suggested.

"Do you mean… deathly hollows? Or… like… deadly hollows?"

"No, I definitely meant hallows- it's a good ending, don't you think?"

"…er… sure. Wait, who are you? Are the spirit of my sword?" She waved a hand.

"I'm a very rich woman, who is very bored with this story. Now take Deus ex machina and run along, Harry."

"But.. do I have to die?" I wouldn't mind living, especially with my new super-cool powers!

"YES! You MUST DIE!!! THERE IS NO OTHER WAY for me to get out of this publishing deal- er- I mean! **It's your destiny**!" She snapped.

"Fucking fate."


	7. Chapter 7: Jagged Destiny

**Since it's been a minute, here is a quick summary:** Harry performed a ritual to summon an animal familiar but botched it in a typical potter fashion and instead wound up with a slightly dead female arrancar, formerly a member of the human race, by the name of Orihime Inoue. With his new perspective on death, the afterlife, and his own status as a demi-hollow (transient falling soul)- Harry has trained to acquire the name of his soul slayer (zanpakto) by entering purgatory (hueco mundo) and fighting hollows (fallen human souls who have become heartless monsters that eat other human souls.) He does this in the hope that finding his zanpakto will protect him from the fate of becoming a hollow, and will instead allow him to become a shinigami (soul reaper who guides the dead to the soul society, and purifies hollows with their zanpakto) and use those abilities to defeat Voldemort.

Another Arrancar (hollows that have be re-humanized by the dark lord Aizen to make them more powerful and serve in his army) by the name of Grimmjow Jaggerjaques has appeared to challenge Harry and his attachment to his familiar, Orihime. During their fight, Harry enters his own soulscape to find the remains of 16 year old Tom Riddle, who is the visual representation of Harry's inner-hollow. He also finds the epitome of his zanpakto- a jackal by the name of Thanatos.

**Chapter Seven: Jagged Destiny**

"_Sever the chains of fate! Rain your vengeance upon those who would control you! _THANATOS!"

Grimmjow jumped out of the way, nimbly avoiding the projectile, but having to abort his own attack at the same time. He moved again, as the blade, too swift for him to see properly, was yanked back towards him by the chain it was attached to.

Grimmjow flash stepped back as I pulled Thanatos back towards me and caught him in my left hand. I really had to learn how to flash step.

Orihime's eyes widened and Grimmjow's jaws opened in a rictus grin as they took in Thanatos.

A black handle the length of my body; On one end, a silver scythe, and on the other end, a weighted chain. The blade was not a perfect half-sickle. It was distorted, like a Z that had the ends bent in an arc. The scythe was a frozen silver bolt of lightning.

"Ogama." Grimmjow said. "Why does an arrancar wanna-be have a shinimagi-type initial release?"

"Because killing you is more important than defending myself." I said. Grimmjow's eyes widened. "Isn't that how it is, Hollow? A mask that guards your instincts, and a sword's initial release that coats your skin in an armor that cannot be cut by a soul slayer."

I disengaged Thanatos from my shoulder and pointed it at the surprised hollow.

"Your instinct is to defend yourself, first and foremost. Mine…" I swung Thanatos into a spin by its chain. "Is to kill."

"Bring it on, bitch! We'll see how your instincts.." He charged. "Match mine!"

Our weapons met in a clash of sparks. I knew that he still out-powered me despite my initial release. Even if I could over-power him in this state, he hadn't even released his zanpakto yet. The only way for me to win would be to lure him into security and strike a decisive blow before he was done playing with me.

For that reason, I was the first to pull back. Grimmjow leered and charged again.

"What's wrong?" He hollered, backing me up with thrust after thrust… his monstrous strength had me sliding back across the sand on my heels. "Where are you instincts now?" He spun into a roundhouse kick too quickly for me to react, and caught my chin with his heel, laughing like a maniac.

I managed not to fall down, but couldn't help it when his fist connected with my cheek seconds later. I barely had time to cough the sand I'd just eaten out before he was on me again. The more our swords clashed, the more I dodged; the more aggressive I got, the happier he seemed to get.

"Having fun?" I couldn't help but ask, as he cackled gleefully.

"You're barely passable." He tossed out. "Just good enough to shake off the malaise living in this world puts me in. Perhaps you'll be able to challenge me- in another thousand years…"

"First Vengence: Snake snare." I called, the minute Grimmjow was in position. Immediately the chain circle Grimmjow had stepped into sprang up, multiplied and tightened around his body like several constrictors.

Far from appearing concerned, he laughed. I didn't let it phase me as I charged, bringing my scythe down onto his immobile body.

Sand exploded in all directions as my blade met the earth.

"Huh… you actually managed to get an attack out, complete with incantation, on your first release. Not even Ichigo managed that." Grimmjow said conversationally from behind me.

I almost shrieked in alarm, but withheld it as I wheeled around. He'd gotten out of the snake snare, seemingly in the split second while I was bringing my scythe to bear. I swung at him, but he dodged effortlessly and kicked the back of my head… planting me face first into the ground.

"A scythe is a heavy weapon… a chained Ogama even more so. I don't know what a puny little bitch like you thinks he can do with something so large against an enemy who primarily relies on speed." He sneered.

"Grimmjow!" Orihime cried, running between us. "Please stop this. Didn't you see what you wanted to know?"

"Orihime, move!" I called after I'd regained my feet. She didn't.

"He's useless trash. I don't know what you want with a human who would sell his soul for power. I thought the brusque but valiant hero type was more your style, Princess." That touched a nerve, I could tell.

"Shall I take that arm of yours back?" She hissed at him, furiously. He laughed maniacally.

"Idle threats! At least Ichigo could make me break a sweat! What are you doing with a weak human who can't protect you from common hollows, much less Aizen-bastard!"

I grit my teeth, more because it was true than anything else. The difference in our power was as evident as day. I'd need much more training to be able to survive an encounter with an arrancar, if I lived through this one.

Orihime's shun shun rikka assembled themselves into a circle in front of her out stretched hands, and another cero charged between them.

"Ah.. that." Grimmjow sniggered. "I suppose you finally got some blood lust into you, to be able to create a cero where before you'd heal an enemy because you couldn't stand to see anyone hurt. Did that human put that ruthlessness into you?" The hollow leered. "I wonder what else he put in you, princess?"

Oh, that's fucking it! The charged red ball of death the shun shun rikka held seemed to implode in on itself, so I took cover. Grimmjow was laughing at Orihime's apparent failure; little did he know. The ground beneath the hollow exploded with the force of a minor nuclear cataclysm, producing a mushroom ball of destruction and a wave of sand that covered me entirely.

The force of the explosion expanded outward from the impact zone, and would've engulfed us if not for the ward Orihime erected.

I stood up and walked to stand beside her, dragging Thanatos before shouldering him. Her long hair was blowing about wildly even as the destructive sphere she had unleashed settled down. We watched it from behind the yellow glow of the _Three Sacred Links Shield_.

"I lost my heart once." Orihime said quietly. "I could've fought harder, but I wasn't able to hurt anyone back then.. even to save my own life. I helplessly let Aizen rip my heart out of me and turn me into this…" She shut her eyes, shaking. "I had power he wanted, and I let him manipulate me into using it for him, against my friends. I can't look at them again, I'm so ashamed."

Manipulated into hurting your friends? I know how that is. But at least her friends weren't dead, not like Cedric.

"It was because I was weak and afraid." She looked at me. "They were hurt trying to save me for no reason. I had the power to save myself all along, but I was too weak to use it! I should've protected them, even if I couldn't save myself… I should've saved them!" She shook her head. "I promised myself not to ever have cause to regret like that again. I will protect you!"

If I didn't feel useless before, I was certainly feeling it now. Orihime was going to protect me? Hadn't I been trying to protect her all along?

"Harry." She said, knowing my thoughts. "Does it matter who protects who, as long as we're both alive?" I shook my head. I suppose it didn't in this case. It would be different with Voldemort though. I was the one that had to kill him, although I couldn't imagine him, or anything, surviving Orihime's nex-cero. It wasn't even her strongest attack. She really was very scary.

"Heh.." The small chuckles, broken by coughing, interrupted our moment. "Heh.. heh…" Our eyes widened and we ran to the edge of the impact crater, weapons at the ready. "Princess…"

Laying in the center of the crater was something that resembled the hollow we had fought. The hair had lengthened, the remnants of the hollow mask he had worn were gone, instead he had a crown of bone between two large feline ears. In place of the arrancar uniform, was a body composed of the same white hollow-bone material in a feline shape. The hands and feet were curled black claws, and a long whip-like black tail curled and uncurled underneath him. His head was still mostly human.

I was vaguely, and disturbingly reminded of _Thundercats_.

"Grimmslash." Orihime said. I realized that his zanpakto was nowhere to be seen, which meant he must have released it. This was the released form of Grimmjow the arrancar: Grimmslash, a cat-man.

"Well… that's a very masculine zanpakto." I couldn't help but comment.

Grimmslash leered, his single set of fangs were more intimidating that his double set of grim jaws had been. It was obvious he had taken damage from the nex-cero Orihime had used. The cat-like armor was cracked and broken in some places, making blood ooze out slowly.

"P… Pantera." Grimmslash coughed, rising up on all four paws. "The panther king. Perhaps my zanpakto isn't named after a god of death…. But it's still more than enough to kill you little human." My zanpakto _wasn't_ named after a god of death, because if it were it would've been called Anubis, but that was a technicality.

"Pantera is a weapon that increases speed beyond the flash step." Orihime warned me. "A speed the eyes can't hope to follow."

"You're still the same cough after all cough … princess. If you had wanted to kill me, you should've used your _negacion_ attack."

It was obvious Grimmjow knew Orihime's attacks intimately. I wondered if they had been friends when Orihime was part of the arrancar army, or the equivalent of friends as two individuals who hated Aizen. I wondered why he hadn't known about her nex-cero. He seemed surprised to see it.

"Grimmjow. You had your fight and saw his abilities. Won't you stop now? I don't want to kill you."

Had I really changed her that much? Had I given her the killing intent needed to create the nex-cero? Had my tainted soul dirtied Orihime's pure hands?

"They're still here you know…" Grimmjow said conversationally. "Kurosaki Ichigo, the Kuchiki, the Quincy, and the big guy. They've been combing the desert, looking for you."

I felt Orihime's shock and dismay, like a haymaker to the face.

"The baboon shinigami with the tattoo's comes too sometimes, and the kid captain with the ice-dragon blade, and his big-tits lieutenant. The bald dude and his faggot friend with a peacock for a sword show up as well."

"Kuchiki-san, Ishida-kun, Sado-kun, Abarai-kun, Hitsugaya-taicho, Rangiku-san. Ikkaku-kun. Yumichika-kun." Our shared heart seemed to break a little with every name she spoke. "Kurosaki… kun."

"And it turns out you have been hiding in the living world all along while your friends have been looking for you in this purgatory. Even I couldn't feel where you'd gone, and believe me, they asked me to try." Grimmjow slowly stalked out of the crater towards us, still on all fours. Orihime didn't back away, so neither did I. "I figured you'd gone into hiding to get away from Aizen, or maybe even to train in the desert. But you were ashamed, weren't you, of being an arrancar? You were hiding from your friends."

Grimmjow motioned his chin towards Orihime's breast plate. "Maybe you even thought you could become human again, if not an ordinary soul." The large cat-man sat in a catlike manner, leering a Cheshire grin; His four queer too-small black paws all lined up properly. "Whatever you want, you should take it. If you want to kill Aizen in revenge, you should do it. If you want to become a regular soul, you should purify yourself on the zanpakto of a shinigami. If you want to be with your friends, then be with them… Your powers are your own, to do with as you please, and you have enough power to do whatever you want. However," He hissed. "no human has any right to your powers! Especially a puny, weak idiot who can't do anything for you."

Orihime moved in front of me, protectively. Really, who was the guy here?

"What are you saying all this for? It's not like you at all to be so reflective. Weren't you just spoiling for a fight? Or were you hoping I'd found some way to protect myself from Aizen's slavery that you could use as well?"

Grimmjow licked his lips. I wondered if he bathed himself like a cat in that form too. Unbidden, the image of him 'cleaning' his privates popped into my brain. I shuddered in disgust. Oh what I'd do for a bar of mind-soap.

"Maybe both of those… maybe none." He seemed unconcerned. "I was hoping you'd kill Aizen yourself. If you were training, I was going to help you."

That shocked Orihime almost as much as hearing about her friends.

"… me? But .. I'm…"

"What? Not strong enough? The power you have over fate is exactly what Aizen needs to overthrow The King. Or did you think Aizen was going to march into heaven and challenge the king to a sword fight? When has that bastard ever lifted a finger in true combat?" Grimmjow shook his head. "Aizen's power lay in manipulating others into fighting for him. He hypnotizes his subordinates and starts conflicts between them to punish one, rather than punish them himself. All the while he sits on his thrown never raising a hand, like a benevolent father… the very picture of mercy."

"Who do you think cut off my arm when I broke orders? It wasn't Aizen. I've never seen him kill, even when he draws his sword. I wonder if he even can. And you think he's going to fight The King head on? Orihime, he changed you… so you could do it for him."

Hold on… hold on!

"Are you saying Aizen wants to overthrow… God?" What the hell was up with this man! I thought Voldemort was ambition-itself for wanting to rule Britain!

"God? God, as in, the creator? I don't know about him." Grimmjow sneered. "The King I'm talking about is the ruler of the soul-society. He resides on a plane of reality just above soul-society. Aizen calls it "heaven" but I wonder about that."

"You're wrong." Orihime said, shaking her head in denial. I felt her terror and disbelief. It felt very familiar. It was exactly what I was experiencing when Dumbledore told me the prophecy. "There is no way I could do that… I don't have anything against the king… and besides, what could I do?"

"Regardless of whether you're capable of slaying The King or not, Aizen feared your power even more than Ichigo's. Your ability is the negation of reality; '_The rejection of fate.'_ Yeah, that's what he called it."

…Death. Reject. Fate… That's what I'd called for.

"Aizen wants your power. I heard… I heard he's going to kidnap your friends and make them arrancar to bring you back and keep you obedient." Orihime gasped. "But if you killed him, well… not only is that problem taken care of, the soul society would welcome you as a hero…"

"Orihime…" I wanted to tell her I'd support her, no matter what she decided. Aizen sounded a lot worse than Voldemort. But she was shaking her head.

"That's ridiculous. I don't know who your source was, but there is just no way. There is no way!" She was becoming hysterical, I could feel it. I had to get her away from Grimmjow. I put my hand on her shoulder, willing her to calm down.

"Let's go home for now. You don't have to decide anything right now."

Grimmjow hissed. I wondered if he'd let us leave peaceably.

"You!" He said to me. "Are a liability!" He curled up, ready to pounce.

"Grimmjow!" Orihime moved in front of me again. "You won't hurt him."

Reality check, he'd already smeared my useless ass all over this desert. If Grimmjow started up again in that form, I'd be in ribbons in seconds.

"Hmph! Having a weak human attached to you will only bring you down. He's like some cancer infested tumor hanging off you grotesquely." Wow, that was some pretty detailed imagery. "Better to cut it away."

"Harry is my friend! I won't let you hurt him."

"And what about your other friends? Ichigo and the rest? You and I can join back up with them and fight Aizen." Ah, that was what he really wanted. And here I was thinking hollows couldn't form relationships, not having a heart and all, but maybe this little kitty was in heat. That was hard to imagine, because as 'grimmslash' he had no.. bits. If they were there, they were coated in the hollow-bone armor and were thus, inaccessible. And why the hell did my mind keep turning in that direction? Ah- must but the concussion.

Orihime didn't get it. I could feel her confusion over his intentions and motivations. She was thinking mostly about her friends, and worrying for their safety. Her emotions swirled around, going back and forth between worry and shame. She didn't want to see them, it was too painful for her. Just thinking about seeing them was making tears leak from her eyes, but was that a good enough reason to stay away and withhold her protection?

"Maybe someday, we'll do that." I answered for her. "I'll go with you and help you, if that's what you want to do, when you are ready." I looked at Grimmjow. "If your speculation is correct, Aizen's plans cannot proceed until he has Orihime. I'll be keeping her safe for most of the year in areas with heavy wards. We are most exposed in Hueco Mundo when we are training. Could you tell me how you found us here, so we can avoid whatever means you used to detect us?"

"No." He answered immediately.

Bastard. I gritted my teeth, but forced myself to stay polite.

"Then would you please tell Orihime's friends that she's safe, and that they should stop looking for her? They need to be watching their own asses for Aizen's kidnapping attempts."

"Kurosaki-kun and the others are able to protect themselves. I was the only one weak enough to be captured." Orihime said at last. If she was _weak_ then I'd hate to meet who she thought was _strong._ "Please tell them to stop looking for me, Grimmjow."

"Shit, do I look like a fucking messenger boy?" _No, you look like an escaped extra from 'cats'_… I wanted to say, but didn't. "Fuck that! Go talk to them yourself!"

"Please?" Orihime said. "Please." More quietly a second time.

They stared at each other silently for a few minutes.

Grimmjow growled, then, just as suddenly as he appeared, he was gone.

I waited until Thanatos slipped back into sword-form to let out the breath I'd been holding. I sheathed him, running my fingers along the guard and said:

"Thank you."

Orihime was still rigged with grief. It was time to cheer her up. "Well, it's way past lunch time! Wow am I hungry! Let's get some banana's and bean paste and onions… and we can roll them into sushi, just like you like it."

"Idiot." She snorted and turned to look at me. There were still tears in her eyes. "You can't go to the store like that, you're a mess."

I was hurting all over. The pain was getting worse as the adrenaline wore off. I could take the broken ribs for a few more hours, but I doubt I'd be able to eat with my fractured jaw. I couldn't see through my left eye, and things were getting wobbly in my right.

"A mess … of course I'm a mess. You don't get out of fighting an arrancar without a few bumps… unless you are you, and it's good you are because I'm not ready to be dead yet." Wow, I was really hurting. "I'm sorry I was so useless."

"I'm glad this happened. Grimmjow helped you find the name of your zanpakto. Did you get to see what it looked like?" I nodded.

"A black jackal with a snake wrapped around his neck. He looked like Anubis."

"Cool. And your release was like a shinigami's. Maybe that means your powers are more human than hollow." This was the heart of the matter.

"Orihime, it was your sword originally. Maybe this means _your_ powers are more human than hollow." I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep and maybe never wake up, but I had to say this. "You don't have anything to be ashamed of. You aren't ugly or tainted. It's through no fault of your own that you are an arrancar. There is nothing for your friends to forgive."

"If that were all of it…" She stopped, then frowned. "… I know my sins better than anyone else. That they would forgive me for them…" She shook her head. "they shouldn't! I can't be forgiven."

So there was more than just her arrancar status. I thought so, but never knew for sure. Orihime never talked about her friends, and even when she mentioned them… there was always one name too taboo to say.

Kurosaki Ichigo.

I wondered if I'd ever meet him, and what I would say to the person who injured Orihime this badly.

That night Orihime slept beside me. She said it was to make sure I was healing properly. Shun'oh got huffy at the implication he couldn't do his job right, which amused me.

I knew Orihime just wanted to be held. I didn't mind obliging.

That night, I didn't have nightmares of Cedric or the graveyard. Instead, I dreamt I was walking along a long narrow passageway that ended in a locked door.

--

A/N: I was going to have Grimm stab harry and end it like that, but I couldn't work it after he'd been injured by hime. I didn't like how much Grimm said, he isn't supposed to be rational! I know he's OOC, and I hate that, but I had to introduce the notion that Aizen was after Orihime to complete his plans, and Grimmjow was the only bleach character available to tell Orihime that. So yes, he's much more rational and less psychotic than he should be. No, I don't like it either. Ah well. That's why it's fanfiction.

As for the lateness of this chapter- (shrugs) I have a life.

RE: who went to Soul Society after hime- When I wrote this chapter not even the manga showed who all showed up in hueco mundo. I also figure the SS might've given up on hime if she'd been turned, so the captains wouldn't have been deployed. Instead, only those determined to help Ichigo would've made an appearance.

RE: reviews – I will reply shortly- thanks to those who have given and those who will give.

May 13, 2008 stats: 14346 hits, reviews: 75, favs: 52, alerts: 122, c2's: 35 – God Bless.


	8. Chapter 8: Break

A/N: Yeah… I've decided I have no schedule. Sorry, it's just not realistic for me to expect to post with any type of regularity. I just realized though, that it's been almost an entire year - and really, since I started posting only after I had already completed 19 chapters in this story, I have absolutely no excuse. Today is 6/29/08 – total reviews are 88, hits: 19127, about 1315 people are reading this story and only 13 reviewed the last chapter. Well… ouch. So, this chapter ends in a little cliffy- maybe that'll provoke some shouting.

**Quick Summary (repeated from last chapter) : ** Harry performed a ritual to summon an animal familiar but botched it in a typical potter fashion and instead wound up with a slightly dead female arrancar, formerly a member of the human race, by the name of Orihime Inoue. With his new perspective on death, the afterlife, and his own status as a demi-hollow (transient falling soul)- Harry has trained to acquire the name of his soul slayer (zanpakto) by entering purgatory (hueco mundo) and fighting hollows (fallen human souls who have become heartless monsters that eat other human souls.) He does this in the hope that finding his zanpakto will protect him from the fate of becoming a hollow, and will instead allow him to become a shinigami (soul reaper who guides the dead to the soul society, and purifies hollows with their zanpakto) and use those abilities to defeat Voldemort.

Another Arrancar (hollows that have be re-humanized by the dark lord Aizen to make them more powerful and serve in his army) by the name of Grimmjow Jaggerjaques has appeared to challenge Harry and his attachment to his familiar, Orihime. During their fight, Harry enters his own soulscape to find the remains of 16 year old Tom Riddle, who is the visual representation of Harry's inner-hollow. He also finds the epitome of his zanpakto- a jackal by the name of Thanatos, which, when released takes the form a chained scythe. Despite releasing his sword, Harry is still utterly defeated showing he still has a long way to go to fight on par with Aizen's elite warriors. Grimm also reveals the horrible fate Aizen captured and turned Orihime for: to wield her as the weapon to destroy the king of the afterlife. He further speculates that Orihime has the ability to defeat Aizen – maybe harry isn't the only one with a horrible destiny after all.

**Chapter eight: break**

I decided after everything that happened yesterday, it was time for a break. As I lay on my bed in the morning, a drooling Orihime pillowed on my shoulder, I tried to think about what we could do today that wouldn't have masses of people calling for an exorcism.

I shifted a little, and the crunch of dried blood met my ears. I'd have to wash the sheets today. At least I was completely healed. Orihime's abilities really were scary.

'The Power to Reject Fate.' That's what Grimmjow had said of them. She wasn't closing my wounds, but rejecting their existence. Orihime's fatal attack 'Negacion' worked on the same principal as her healing ability, it simply rejected an individual's entire existence.

Now that was a kick ass power the dark lord didn't know about. I wondered if my chains of fate would be enough to keep Voldemort alive if Orihime fired a 'negacion' at him. I wondered if Thanatos was enough to destroy Voldemort for good. He'd have to be. It was shameful to doubt him and my ability just because Orihime was inherently stronger than me. She had a bigger dark lord to contend with, after all.

It was funny how things looked in different perspectives. A little more than a month ago, I was panicking like it was the end of the world because Voldemort had tagged me for death. Voldemort seemed like little more than an annoyance next to Aizen and the Espada, Aizen's top ten Arrancar. Grimmjow had been the sixth espada. I had trouble imagining that there were four arrancar stronger than Grimmjow, plus Aizen himself and his two shinigami-traitor lieutenants.

Ulquiorra, the arrancar I was supposed to resemble, was espada number four; Two seats above Grimmjow. I hope I never ever ran into him.

And Grimmjow wanted Orihime to fight those monsters? Grimmjow expected Orihime to defeat Aizen? Orihime had amazing abilities I couldn't even begin to understand, but even I was in doubt of her capacity to do that. It took an iron resolve to destroy your enemies, and I couldn't imagine Orihime with that resolve.

I knew Voldemort wouldn't be a pushover by any means. I didn't know how useful my new abilities would be against him, but at least Voldemort wasn't trying to overthrow the King of the afterlife! Still, it made my burden look lighter. Or maybe that was just the confidence and peace I'd gained from having Orihime beside me and Thanatos in my hands.

"You're still thinking about it?" Orihime murmured.

"I'm sorry, is it keeping you from sleeping?" She twisted her face into my shoulder to block out the light of morning.

"Mmm.. your bony body and lumpy bed are keeping me from sleeping. Next time we'll sleep on the floor, it'll be more comfortable." I _was_ bony compared to her.. and short-er. In my defense, she was a year and a half older than me, and ate nothing but junk food.

"I was thinking… how about a picnic today. We'll go to the park and laze about for a little bit." I felt her reluctance instantly.

"Our enemies won't wait for us to be ready…" she hedged.

"We've been working really hard without a break. We're both stressed out." I pushed my fingers into her back to emphasize how tense she was.

"Oooooo…." She said, getting more comfortable. Oh, she really had to stop that or we were going to have a problem. "My upper back always hurts. Rangiku-san said that's the price of having full breasts."

They were full- huge really- and soft, and pressed against me. Sigh! I hated being almost-fifteen. Fate was laughing right now, I could tell. Fate must think it was hilarious to give a nerdy, teenaged, touch-deprived, male a gorgeous, touchy-feely, female familiar. I wasn't allowed to think that way about her! I figured if she was a part of me, loving her would be narcissism!

She was laughing. Damn it, she'd heard that thought!

"… hehehe..HAHAHAH! Narcissism!"

"Do you want me to keep rubbing your back? Yes? Then shut up, and don't listen to my thoughts!" She couldn't stop sniggering though. Still, it was better than sadness. "So… the park?"

"Don't your neighbors already think you're some delinquent? If you talk to me at the park, you'll be a delusional delinquent with an invisible friend." Ah. There it was. She didn't want to be reminded she was dead. Dead, but still living. Able to listen and touch but not able to be seen or heard.

I knew from growing up in this house the pain of being ignored like I didn't exist. Hmm.. how to compromise?

"I'll wear my invisibility cloak. Then no one will be able to see me either."

"Including me." Orihime pointed out.

"Boy!" Oh shit.

Aunt Petunia opened my door without knocking again. How many times had she caught me in the middle of changing? And she still hadn't learned NOT to do that?

Her lips thinned as she took in the sight of us.

"_Someone_ needs another talk." NO! You wouldn't do that to me! "Vernon!"

"Fuck."

--break--

Orihime was still giggling three blocks down the road. She'd stayed in the room that time, as Uncle Vernon lectured me again. He seemed to believe Petunia had caught me mid-wank, and was scolding me for doing it in my room and giving Petunia more laundry.

The worst part was that Aunt Petunia had stayed in the room this time as well, nodding sternly when Uncle Vernon directed his attention toward her for back up, and then winking smugly … almost playfully … at Orihime when he wasn't looking at her.

It was so hard to keep a straight face when Orihime kept dissolving into giggles and making strange faces at Uncle Vernon.

What the hell did I do to my aunt to deserve all this!?

Vernon went to work, and that was when the most shocking thing happened. Petunia handled me a mobile, with an ear piece.

"What? Why?" Why would she give me anything?

"Don't ask questions!" Petunia snapped. "It was Dudley's, but they confiscated it at school because it wasn't allowed and mailed it home. Dudley bought a new one there so he didn't need this one back. Keep the ear piece on and the phone in your hand when you go out so it'll look like you're talking to someone on the line."

I blinked stupidly at her.

"Are you slow, boy? Go on!" Aunt Petunia was actually facilitating my freakishness?

"Who are you?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

She paused, and got a funny look on her face. I realized she was trying not to laugh. WTF! Bizarro-world times ten!

"Harry.." Orihime pulled my arm, still giggling. "Thank you very much Petunia-oba-sama. We're going now."

And so we went. I put the ear piece in, then opened the phone only to find another shock. There was a twenty pound note folded up on the key pad. I stopped, utterly gob smacked. Petunia had given me money?!

"What did you do to my Aunt?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Like I said, she's a complex person." Orihime hummed.

We laughed our way up Wisteria walk. Orihime was doing outrageous impressions of Uncle Vernon. She flailed when she talked usually, but her movements were even more exuberant now. Orihime had claimed she wasn't "an outdoors person" but I wondered if she had lied. She seemed exultant to be in the sun again.

I felt guilty I hadn't really taken her out or done anything fun with her. We'd been training non-stop and were confined, therefore, to either Hueco Mundo or number four. A few times we'd gone to the small foreign super in town to pick up sweet bean paste and other strange items Orihime was craving, but Aunt Petunia had started doing that for us a few weeks ago. Weird.

I'd forced myself to stop being jealous of how friendly my Aunt and Orihime were, but instances like the phone and the 20 quid still gave me a pang of envy and bitterness. It was shameful, and I hoped Orihime didn't notice my ill-will. She deserved every kindness in the world.

School was out, but I was still surprised to find so many children running around in the park. A group of them were playing with two dogs the owner had unleashed, while another set argued over the swings. I'd intentionally taken Orihime to the larger, more distant park than the one Dudley and his gang of idiots frequented. There were hiking paths along the various creeks that made up the park where we could walk with relative privacy.

The dappled sunlight reflected off Orihime's white uniform as we walked a dirt path near a babbling creek. Standing there, reflecting the light, I couldn't imagine how other people couldn't see her. She was as solid as any other human being, and I wouldn't have even known she wasn't just another strangely dressed teenager had I not seen her hollow-hole. That reminded me of something.

"I know I've offered before, but are you sure you don't want different clothes of your own?" I knew she could change clothes. She wore my t-shirts and boxes to sleep, or when she was cleaning and repairing her uniform. As an arrancar, she didn't need to eat, nor did she sweat so her uniform didn't get dirty unless we were training.

"I told you before, I can't wear human clothing anyway, without it looking like an invisible person walking around in visible clothes. I can only change when people can't see me. I'm not fond of my uniform, but it's made of reiatsu and invisible… like the rest of me."

This was a good segue way to discuss the inevitable.

"And when we go back to Hogwarts, a school of people who are able to see you?"

"I can't get over it. Why did they name a school hog-warts?" She laughed. "What a silly name!" She was avoiding the topic.

"Orihime, I don't want you to have to hide again. I wasn't ready to … share the truth of myself with anyone. That's the only reason I didn't introduce you to my friends. But you are part of my life, like they are, and I want you to _be_ part of it." It wasn't the only reason.

In truth, I was also reluctant to share Orihime with my friends. It wasn't right of me to be possessive of her. She was another human soul, not just my familiar. I knew that, but a small dark part of me was afraid the stigma of being a hollow would make others try to take her away from me… Or even worse, that they'd love her despite that and she'd realize she could have a productive, happy life and that she didn't need some specky, morose, problem-attracting runt… and then she'd voluntarily abandon me.

I hoped to God she didn't know my dark fears so she could make a decision independent of my ambivalence. I wanted to tell everyone about her, filled with pride that I had a powerful, wonderful arrancar like her for a familiar and I wanted to tuck her away and never let anyone else know of her, so she could remain mine and only mine.

It was better that she make her own choice, but she had her own ambivalence to deal with. As an extrovert, Orihime desperately needed companionship to have a fulfilling existence. Her friends were her family and her life. She had followed them into the afterlife-world and even to her own death. Orihime wanted to have friends to love and be loved by. But she was afraid. Friendship had ended in a painful death and a cursed afterlife for her. She had separated from those friends she held dear and a part of her heart had been ripped away.

She was afraid of making new friendships, afraid of being hurt the same way again… and afraid that if she made a new life for herself here, that she'd been forever closing to the door to her old one. Moving on meant accepting she was dead and couldn't go back. She was stuck in-between in every way.

We'd been training hard to fight, but it was also a means of protecting ourselves from acknowledging the past. After a hard day's fight, I was too tired to avoid sleep. Concentrating on my zanpakto made me too focused to have nightmares. We pushed ourselves in training, to push everything else away. But if I had learned anything from conversing with my zanpakto, it was that reality couldn't be pushed away forever. That it was better to acknowledge what was in front of you, and run towards it instead of being dragged there unwillingly.

"I've been thinking about this. We could make it out like you are a transfer student. Since everyone will be able to see you, you can wear normal clothing that covers up your chest plate and no one will have any reason to doubt you." I suggested.

"Transfer student, huh?" She smiled bitterly. "Kuchiki-san did the same thing, but Ishida-kun figured it out."

"Ishida Uryuu… He's the Quincy, right? The humans who'd learned to use their soul-sleep to produce a bow and arrow out of reiatsu that can kill hollows?" Orihime nodded. "There won't be anyone like that at Hogwarts. We're trained to use our magic differently, with wands and stuff…"

How to reassure her without trying to persuade her? Hermione, I could use your advice right now.

"What do you think we should do?" I asked. Orihime was smart; Smarter than me. Maybe she knew a better way.

"The most convincing lie is the one closest to the truth. I told you there was no true way to restore life, but there were substitutes. One of the ways.. is to possess a fake-body. Kuchiki-san called it a 'gigai.' She purchased it from Urahara-san. I don't know what it was made of, but I think you could probably use magic to make one."

I wasn't understanding where she was going with this, but I nodded.

"Yoruichi-san was able to transform into a talking cat. No one ever suspected she had another form. I'm your familiar, and familiars are normally animals."

Oh, no shit Potter!

"Orihime, that's brilliant!" She smiled.

But really, a talking cat ? How could anyone not figure that out? My imagination immediately supplied me of an image of Orihime transforming into sailor moon and fighting under the command of a talking cat with her friends, who were mostly male but still wore the short-skirted sailor uniforms, against the forces of evil. I sniggered.

"Of course! Inoue Orihime is ranked third in her class of 332 students!" She proclaimed proudly. "I wonder what animal I should be?"

"A fairy." I said immediately. "A fairy princess." She laughed.

"You want everyone to know your familiar is a fairy princess?" I vividly remembered my first encounter with Tsubaki, and the horrible embarrassment I felt at the idea of having a fairy familiar. I would've rejected bonding with Orihime out of that embarrassment and that seemed incredibly foolish in retrospect. Who cares what form she took? She was still more kick-ass than Fawkes and Nagini put together.

"As long as they don't find my collection of stiletto's, I'm safe." She laughed even louder this time. I felt relieved. Having Orihime next to me was worth any embarrassment.

"You'd make a cute girl, I think. Oooo, maybe I can give you a makeover some time! That'd be fun!" Except that!

"Hey, don't go there. 'Shortness' does not, a cute girl make. Besides, one day I'll be taller than you!"

"Maybe I should call you Harry-chan."

"Oi!" If the quidditch team heard Orihime call me "Harry-chan" I couldn't imagine how quickly other people would pick up the cutesy name. I was already blushing at the idea.

"Harry-chan!" I scowled at her. "Harry-chan is trying to act tough again. I never understood why kind boys want to come off all mean."

"Who's kind?"

"You! Actually, you have moments when you really remind me of my brother." Orihime said. "He was the kindest man I ever knew."

"Sora, right?" She nodded. She was more inclined to talk about her brother and her best friend, Tatsuki, than most of her other friends and family. Inoue Sora had raised his younger sister, 15 years his junior, when their parents had abandoned them.

"He became a hollow, when he died." Orihime said. "It must be the fate of my family, or something…" My eyes widened, I hadn't known that. Orihime had mentioned that hollows attack their family first.. that meant that her brother had attacked her in his hollow form. She must've recognized him, despite the mask and the monstrous body.

"What happened to him?" Did a shinigami come to defend her? Was her brother purified and sent to the soul-society?

"Kurosaki-kun came to fight him…" That name again. Kurosaki Ichigo. "…Because my brother was unwillingly turned into a hollow, he was able to resist the transformation for long enough… to impale himself on a zanpakto."

Shite. No wonder she thought I was like him. Hadn't I stabbed myself with a zanpakto for her as well? I wasn't really keen on being likened to her brother, though, even if he was kind. He had still become a hollow and attacked her, and even if he was able to end his existence for her… it was still just another way of leaving her behind again.

It struck me, that she was telling me about her life more. Even if it meant mentioning the one person she seemed most reluctant to discuss. Who the hell was Ichigo? The snarling beast inside me growled; reared its jealous head. What did Ichigo mean to her?

I blew out a breath. There wasn't anything to be done about her past. She was with me now, and I had better concentrate on keeping her happy if I wanted it to stay that way.

"Harry-chan." Damn it! It looked like that stupid name was gonna stick. "I'm not going anywhere." Fuck, she had felt those ugly feelings. "We're part of each other now. If you die, then I'll come with you to soul-society. If you live, then I'll go with you where you go." She touched her breast plate, tracing the embossed lightning mark. _I felt it_. It was like she was touching my own chest. "No one can come between us."

I closed my eyes. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I bit my lip, feeling guilty. I had only known Orihime for two months, but she was now the most precious person in the world to me. More than Ron and Hermione, who'd been there for me, willing to die for me, since we were eleven; More than Sirius, who had risked the consumption of his soul to help me and protect me. Was it shameful to value her more than anyone? Probably… but didn't I deserve a little selfishness for all the bullshit fate had put me through?

Sirius was willing to offer me a family and home. That was what I had always wanted. But when I was with Orihime, even living at the Dursleys, I was always home.

Fucking sentimentality. I blinked rapidly and took deep breaths.

The moment was broken, as a terrible scream tore through the air.

"Hollow!" Orihime cried as she twisted and pointed to a black tear in the middle of the blue sky.

"What? Now?! It's right in the middle of the day! There are people everywhere!"

"Which is why we have to destroy it immediately before any civilians become casualties!" Orihime declared.

The hollow was coming through the tear in the sky, and although it was a little ways off, it still looked huge.

"Shit!"

--

A/N: So there you have it. Not as much action as I like in my chapters, but there will obviously be a fight in the next chapter. Now for some irony. I think this omake is longer than the chapter, but here it is.

Speaking of Sailor Moon- OMAKE: Captain Flower Power Girl Pilot episode (AKA: how about Bleach?) 

"Orihime, there you are! Come quickly, the Nega-verse is attacking!" A black cat exclaimed.

"Oh Noes! I'm on my way!" Orihime jumped up from her bed, and concentrating on her millennium crystal hair ornaments ™ she exclaimed "Shun'oh, Ayame, Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily, Tsubaki- Hibiscus shield prism power!" Her shun shun rikka popped out and immediately spun around her, turning into light and performing some strange dance that led to a ten minute transformation sequence with plenty of fan service. "With your powers combine I am Captain Flower Power!" Orihime called when she was finally stripped down to her super hero uniform: a bra and underwear, with knee high pink boots.

"Hey, Yoruichi-san? Does my uniform have to make me look like a two dollar whore?" Orihime asked, frowning.

"Absolutely! Don't you see, if you wear more clothing someone will actually look at your face and figure out your identity. It is essential you maintain a fool proof disguise!" Yoruichi responded, reasonably.

"But… couldn't I like… wear a mask… or a wig…. Kinda like Miley Cyrus? Then I can have _the best of both worlds_ … with clothes on."

"No, no…. this is the only way! Now come on, we have to reunite the other captains." The cat jumped out of the window, and Orihime, reluctantly, followed.

Ichigo was already there when Orihime arrived, and to avoid the necessity of a plot, proceeded to use his own lengthy transformation sequence that resulted in a red mini-skirted uniform.

But just then the generic villain began monologing. "I am the generic villain of this episode, and I will succeed in destroying you where all my cohorts have failed Captain Flower Power!"

"Captain Death Strawberry." Yoruichi called, referring to Ichigo. "Say your line!"

"Captain… what?" Ichigo asked, then turned to glare at the cat. "Could you please explain why I have to try and fight in high heels?"

"Never mind that! Say your line!" Yoruichi demanded.

"Er… Take This! The Power of Righteousness! Righteous Armor Justice Head Band- Equip!" Ichigo said, and threw his head band at the villain. The padded white garmet impacted the villain with a pathetic "Flump" and fell limply to the ground.

"Amazing, that didn't work!?" Yoruichi exclaimed in an over-the-top vexed voice.

"Of course it didn't fucking work you demented pussy…" Muttered an annoyed Ichigo. Yoruichi didn't hear this as the bad guy was laughing raucously at his apparent victory.

"Now you try it, Captain Quincy Archer!" Yoruichi demanded.

"Yes! Finally an opportunity to prove the superiority of the Quincy!" Ishida proclaimed, appearing silhouetted against the moon light, his own blue miniskirt flapping in the dramatic breeze.

"Stand Back Captain Death Strawberry!"

"Dude… you are such a fag." Ichigo said, and staggered away as best he could in his three inch stiletto's.

"You won't beat me you silly Captains of justice sailors- I will …" The villain continued on for several minutes, mean while the animators didn't have to do much more but repeat an open/close mouth sequence which was nice for them.

The quincy eventually used his attack animation sequence, which the villain dodged.

"This is a tricky foe indeed!" Yoruichi exclaimed. "Where is Chad?"

"He said there was no way if hell he was fighting evil if it meant he had to wear a mini skirt while doing it- and green just isn't his color so…."

"Right! That means it's your turn Captain flower power!" Yoruichi said.

"What am I supposed to throw at that thing? My panties? I'm not wearing anything I can throw!" Orihime protested.

"Ah ha!" Ichigo exclaimed. He quickly pulled of his heels, tossed Orihime one, then rushed the bad guy with the other and stabbed it in the eye. What followed would've been a very gruesome scene of carnage but it was censored, along with all mentions of lesbianism and cross-dressing, for American television.

"Orihime, you were useless, so Ichigo is being promoted to the leader of the Captain Justice Sailors." Yoruichi said later on.

"My first order of business will be a uniform change- and we need better weapons, cause that fight was lame as hell after 4-kids was done with it."

"But if you change the main character of the show, you'll have to rename the entire series- what will you call it if not Captain Flower Power Girl?!" Orihime asked.

"I'm sure we'll think of a good name- something that really explains what the series will be about and will therefore attract a wide audience…. Something really descriptive….. " Yoruichi said.

"What's that smell?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh, since you decided to change the uniforms I was just bleaching my old one white- no need to waste good fabric just because it's the wrong color." Ishida said, holding up his new white Quincy uniform (which somehow looked even more ridiculous than the blue miniskirt did.)

"Bleach huh?"

END. Please review.


	9. Chapter 9: Caught

Chapter Nine: Caught

"Tsubaki!" The surly black fairy popped out of the hair pin at Orihime's left temple.

Shinigami were supposed to take care of the hollows that appeared in the living world. That was their job. But when no shinigami immediately appeared, it was obvious we had to stop the hollow before someone lost their soul.

"I know!" Tsubaki said, and launched himself at me. I hated this part.

With a jolt of painful electricity Tsubaki used his two-way rejection attack to reject my soul from my body. It hurt every damn time!

My body flopped uselessly to the earth- dead, its face still bearing a look of surprise… just like Cedric's had. I shook myself from those thoughts and unsheathed Thanatos. Orihime was running towards the hollow already.

I spared a thought for my dead body, lying in the middle of a hiking trail in a public and busy park- but another howl from the hollow pushed thoughts of what would happen if it were discovered out of my mind, and I tore after my familiar.

The hollow was uglier than most. It had an insectisoid body, with hair like tentacles waving around. I _hated_ the tentacle-types, because you could never get too close to them for fear of it launching a spike at your back. You had to take them down from enough of a distance so you could still see its attacks coming at you.

I had no distance attacks in my arsenal before Thanatos revealed himself to me. It was time to find out what my soul cutter could do.

"_Sever the chains of fate! Rain your vengeance upon those who would control you! Thanatos!_" With a thunderclap Thanatos released, the comforting weight of his chain settled around me.

"What? A shinigami?" Said the hollow. "No… no… you smell different. The fetid scent of a soul gone rancid with decay…"

What the fuck! I do NOT smell like decay! I'm not a fucking dementor! It was probably smelling Tom Riddle's half-dead ass.

"Neither a shinigami, nor a hollow… It doesn't matter, either way you are my prey!" It attacked.

Orihime and I dodged, and with a thrill of joy I was flying again… flying without support nor constraint as I could only do in the living-world. I could feel Thanatos vibrating… my happiness fueling his bloodlust. My ability to fly in the living-world gave Thanatos new ways to kill, and that made him eager. We charged downward, and I raised Thanatos above my head, poised to strike.

Tentacles came at me from all directions, and suddenly I was using some of my best quidditch moves to dodge and duck out of the way, sometimes swinging Thanatos and severing the hollow's limbs. Motes of its blood sprang out like geysers. It persisted in its writhing, its appendages thrusting and whipping about so I couldn't get close enough to its main body to strike a decisive blow.

I backed off a little, and noticed Orihime with her _Three Sacred Links Shield_ raised, some humans huddled behind her. I didn't have time to curse their involvement, as the hollow launched itself at me. Its teeth clicked as it snapped its double set of jaws, trying to take off one of my legs. I kicked it in the face for its trouble and cracked the bug-like white mask. It fell over, howling in anger, then scuttled back on it's too-many legs.

"_Fetid smelling are we…"_ Hissed Thantaos. "_I wonder how it would smell….roasted."_

"Tell me what to do." I asked him.

"_What do you want to do? You have to _know_ it."_ Thanatos said back.

I had to know it? I knew I wanted to toast that thing, and get back to my body before something terrible happened. I unwrapped the weighted chain and took a moment to observe the shape of the weight at the end. It was in the form of a viper's head, its mouth open and fangs out stretched to bite. I thought it might be poisonous, which would be cool to try out on the next Arrancar I ran into. For a body that large, however, I would need more fire power than a snake bite to kill it.

The hollow appeared to be sizing me up as we floated on opposite sides of a football field some two hundred meters above the ground.

I kicked Thanatos into a swing and launched him at the hollow. It knocked him away with one of its tentacles, and I yanked him back by the chain. Well.. that was completely ineffective.

…know it… Know what? Even if I used the only attack I knew, the snake snare, it wouldn't be enough to pin down all those tentacles.

"roasted." I looked at Thanatos, whose blade was crooked like a silver bolt of lightning. I understood.

I switched hands, and spun the weighted chain in my right, before launching it by its snake-head weight.

"First Vengeance: Snake Snare!" The chain split into many parts and became animated, each body curling themselves around the hollow as it roared and tried to break free.

I pulled the chain taut towards me, and concentrated. Intentions were key… I wanted to roast this bastard.

"Second Vengeance: Silver Strike!" Thanatos' blade charged with electricity, which exploded down the shaft and into the chain, lighting the _snake snare_ already wrapped around the hollow with the silver white glow of electricity.

The hollow screamed and writhed in agony as the flesh in contact with the chains blackened and crisped. The cry of thunder nearly drowned its wailing; the sound of thanatos' roar overpowering it. The hollow started to crumble to ashes, which flickered into blue sparks of reiatsu that rose towards the sky.

The snake snare faded away and the only thing that remained of the monster was a tiny black butterfly that flitted away.

The butterfly meant one thing: "I purified it." I said with disbelief. "My zanpakto purified a hollow… even though I'm not a shinigami."

I shook myself and dropped back down to earth. I could think about this later, I had to get back into my body before someone found it.

Another delay reared its head when I reached the ground. Orihime was looking frantic, tears streaming down her face as she looked on helplessly, her hands clasped and twisting. A group of children was huddled together, crying. One of them was bleeding from the head. Orihime obviously wanted to heal him, but couldn't approach without terrifying the children further.

"He must've been struck by debris. But he looks ok, he's not even unconscious." I said.

She shook her head. "I raised the **Santen Kesshun** (Three Sacred Links Shield) to protect them… but he tried to run out from behind it. I tried to hold him back so he wouldn't get hurt…" I could imagine the kid completely flipping out after watching the football field acquire deep gashes from an invisible monster, only to be held back from running away by an invisible person.

"He started praying… calling out for Jesus, like I was…" an evil spirit… a devil.

I came forward and held her. She gratefully accepted, and started shaking. "You aren't a demon, Orihime… you were just trying to help him." I heard sirens approaching, and saw some adults running our way. "Look, here come the cavalry. The kid will be fine now. What's important is that you protected them from being killed."

The longer we stood there, the worse the feeling in the pit of my stomach became. "We should go."

She nodded and backed away, rubbing her eyes. I took her hand to guide her and we ran back to where my body was.

Too late.

Oh- FUCK!

There was the ambulance, pulled up alongside an area that had been roped off with yellow crime scene tape. Why the fuck is it, that the bobbies are _only_ efficient when you _don't_ want them to be!? A small number of people had gathered around the edges of the tape to peer in morbid fascination at my dead body, which still bore the wide-eyed look of surprise on its scarred face.

"Harry Potter…" Someone near me was whispering. "… ministry is on their way.."

Even fucking better! Could this get any worse!?

The person whispering froze, as though ice had been dumped down her back and turned and looked Straight. At. Me.

Never. Fucking. Ask. If it can get WORSE!

"SHIT!"

A scream tore through the air as the spectator completely lost it. "Harry Potter! Harry Potter!!" She screamed and pointed.

"Ma'am… please calm down…" A random policeman advised, then turned back to his partner. "Cover the kid up, would you?" The partner approached my body with a white sheet. The first police man approached the witch. "Ma'am, Do you know this boy?"

The witch, or who I assumed was a witch, continued to gape at my soul, unable to speak.

CRACK!

Everyone jumped.

There, where no one had been standing before, were several men and women in wizard's robes. The policemen gaped in disbelief.

"What in God's name…" the one with the white sheet began, before…

"Obliviate!" Even Fucking Better!

"Orihime." I said, quickly turning to her as she surveyed the scene in horror. "Hide! Now!" She hesitated for a split second. _Not like this, I don't want people to find out like this! _She complied and dashed away.

I felt her enter Hueco Mundo, and despite the distance, I was relieved.

"Over 'ere! Over 'ere!" The witch near me was screaming, as she pointed at me. She was ignored.

Muggles were running everywhere. Ministry officials chased them down, hitting them in the backs with stunners and obliviating their prone bodies. Thinking quickly I ducked away to observe.

I winced as a muggle tripped over my body in her haste to get away, and took a stunner to the back.

"What a nightmare!" The Obliviator said. "Dawlish! Go set up some anti-muggle wards around this place while we clean up."

A squat wizard in an auror uniform nodded and left, taking two subordinates with him.

"Unbelievable!" A witch with a monocle was saying, shaking her head. She was squatting over my body with a sad look on her face. "Harry Potter!"

"You don't think.. Amelia, I mean to say… Dumbledore tried to tell all of us _he_ was back…" The Obliviator said.

"Alright! Everyone!" A familiar nasal voice called. Green bowler hat. Check. Pin striped cloak. Check. Short and round with an obvious Napoleon complex. Check.

Cornelius Fudge, minister of magic, was here in person. He frowned down at my body, and a look of uncertainty flickered across his face.

"I know what this looks like…" Fudge began.

"It looks like Harry Potter's dead, Minister! Who else would want to do this!" A woman in an Auror uniform protested. I was shocked to see tears on her face. "Why didn't you listen…"

"That's enough, Auror Jones!" Amelia, the witch in the monocle, cut her off.

Fudge blew out a breath.

"This is a terrible tragedy, however, we cannot jump to conclusions from this."

"Minister!" The witch who had spotted me tried to interrupt.

"Be quiet Tonks." Amelia chastised. To my amazement, the witch's hair changed color- becoming a bright furious red, as if to demonstrate her anger. I wondered if that was intentional or not.

"First of all," The minister began. "Can someone please confirm that this is, in fact, Harry Potter."

"Who else could it be! Are you blind, don't you see the scar!" The crying witch shrieked. "Another child! Just a child!"

"Auror Jones, control yourself!" Amelia spat. She then walked forward and conducted her wand in a few sweeps over my body, making the corpse flash different colors. "No transfigurations, no charms, no illusions or glamours…" She paused. "..no life signs." A few more sweeps. "No signs of bleeding, contusions or internal wounds either… if he was killed it was either poison or the killing curse." Her voice was professionally detached, but her face told a different story. "He's in the same year as my niece, Susan." She shook her head.

Fudge was rubbing his temples furiously, as though trying to dispel a headache.

"Shaklebolt, go get Dawlish and the others… I want everyone to hear this." Fudge demanded.

A tall, bald, black man in auror's robes complied. Fudge started pacing while they waited, looking anywhere but at my body, like he couldn't stand it. When the others returned, he stopped and firmed his face.

"This cannot get into the papers." Was what he said.

The mouths of everyone around him dropped open. He held up a hand to forestall any protests. "It cannot get into the papers until we have officially determined cause of death. If it came out that Harry Potter was found dead of no apparent cause.. Think of the uproar, the speculation, the fear! Everyone will be jumping to conclusions… **The Wrong Conclusions**. For all we know the boy could've accidentally over dosed on those muggle drugs teenagers do…"

WHAT! I DO NOT DO DRUGS!

"He was unstable! Anyone would be troubled by the things that boy has gone through! It's no surprise, yes, very sad indeed… But enduring the tri-wizard tournament and watching a fellow competitor tragically loose his life; It's no wonder the boy was unseated. Children who've been through less than him have turned to extreme means to help ease their pain and confusion.

"Not only that, but I know personally how many problems Harry has with his muggle family. _He blew up his AUNT!_ To be forced to return to an unsupportive, magic-phobic household after the trauma he endured… To be isolated from his friends and the comfort of his community when it is so desperately needed would make anyone despair. Who knows what lengths Harry would go to…" Fudge's voice was full of almost-genuine sounding remorse. If I didn't know what a complete fucktard he was, I might've bought it.

"Even make up lies, incredible lies, as a call for help; Lies that would keep Harry among his friends and community, under the guise of staying safe from a non-existent threat!" He… HE actually thought I was lying about Voldemort? THAT FUCKER! That complete BASTARD!

"If it came out that Harry Potter died, without a known cause of death, so soon after Dumbledore's inflammatory lies have been published, it would cause a panic! And for what? What if it turned out, in the end, that the boy couldn't handle the stress of his fame and personal tragedy? Would we incite riots and terror for a suicide?"

SUICIDE! More like HOMICIDE! As in, I'm gonna MURDER you, BITCH! I was so furious, I didn't even realize I had unsheathed Thanatos, who was vibrating in my hands with the desire to kill.

"Do you feel that?" Amelia said, her monocle fell from its perch as her brows knitted.

The color-change woman, Tonks, who'd spotted me shivered and rubbed her arms as her hair turned blue. Even Fudge seemed to notice the bitter cold that had engulfed the site of my body, as my bloodlust filled the area with icy fury.

"Unseasonable weather for july… that's all." Fudge dismissed, tightening his pinstriped cloak around him.

"No… it's rage. The rage of the dead." The crying Auror said. "The rage of one who is murdered, and been denied revenge."

Fudge blustered angrily. "Auror Jones, I will have you suspended if you cannot keep your speculation in check! The deatheaters are no more.. the dark lord has NOT returned. If this boy was murdered, it was by his own hand!"

I let my bloodlust fill the clearing again, making every last wizard shiver in fear. Fudge had one more chance to correct himself.

"And if it was murder? If it was the killing curse?" The tall black Auror, Shaklebolt, asked.

"If it truly was murder, than it is our failure to recapture Sirius Black that we must blame. If it was Black, however, I suppose they'll be speculation as to why he didn't fire the dark mark into the sky. Its absence makes me even more positive that this was suicide."

So that was it, huh? Either I killed myself, or Sirius killed me. It never even occurs to him that I might've been telling the truth. No. I am NOT going to fucking take this.

"Amelia, please remove the body to a _private_ morgue… some glamors wouldn't be a bad…"

"**Fudge**." He stopped dead. He turned white. He might've pissed himself. Good.

I floated down from the sky with the sun to my back, casting the stupid little man in shadow. He gaped at me, and fell backwards in alarm.

"Merlin's balls!" Said another.

As I descended, Thanatos unsheathed and released, was resting on my shoulder, the hole in my head a void of darkness that drew the eye like it swallowed light confirmed my identity.

"Harry… Potter." Amelia breathed. "You've become a ghost!"

"Worse!" I sneered. I closed my eyes, and poured more bloodlust out of me. The soul landscape trembled as though I had screamed. The wizards all winced and backed away, terrified. "I've become a nightmare."

This wasn't the first time I've had to lie, convincingly, on the fly. But never before had it been this crucial to do it properly. As I was about to proceed with my tale, another CRACK of apparition interrupted the macabre.

Dumbledore had appeared, Remus and Snape were with him. He took in the appearance of my soul, and then my prone body lying on the ground, then closed his eyes in rejection. Remus fell to his knees, choking on sobs.

My heart twisted, but I could only go forward for now, while I had Fudge's attention. I swore to myself I'd apologize to Remus for doing this to him until he forgave me. But Later.. only later.

"Oh Harry… No… not Harry.." Dumdledore said, his own tears falling. Even Snape's eyes were flashing with something that looked like despair.

"Shut up." I said. If they kept on like that, I'd lose my resolve and tell the truth. "Shut up!"

Remus hushed, but didn't come out of his despairing kneel.

"Shut up and listen to me, and I'll explain so that you fuckers can stop dicking around and do something right for once in your useless careers!" I yelled and the ministry personnel. They gaped back at me.

"First of all! I didn't kill myself, you dumb fuck!" Lie number one. Technically, I had killed myself, but they didn't know it wasn't permanent. "I wouldn't commit suicide, and I don't do drugs. How dare you presume I'm so weak! I've faced horrors that would drive other people insane, and I've never cracked once!" Lie number two.

Fudge shrank back, and I realized that my bloodlust, which was like a physical weight on them, was repelling him. Good.

"Second of all! Sirius black is innocent! No, shut up!" Fudge, who had been shaking his head, stopped moving. "A soul cannot tell lies!" Lie number three, now to pile on the bullshit. "I've been to the other-side, and I know the secrets of death! My parent's secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew! But I didn't need them to _tell_ me that to _know_ it. I saw him once in second year and again in the grave yard. He admitted to me that he was a deatheater who sold my parents out, and he helped Voldemort regain his body by cutting off his own hand!" They all winced at the name. Pathetic!

I leaned over Fudge. "You WILL recall your warrants for Sirius's arrest, and give him a fair trial, do you understand!?" He whimpered, but didn't answer.

"Who… who killed you?" Had to hand to Amelia, who ever she was. She dared to speak when no one else could even move.

"Deatheaters in masks apparated around me. One of them fired a killing curse at me. It hit me in the forehead." I pointed to the chasm that was my skull. "They didn't set off the dark mark because Voldemort doesn't want the general public to know he's back." Everyone winced at the name again. Losers.

"Why should he announce his arrival, when he needs time to rebuild his network of spies and murderers unopposed. Then he can launch a coup at full strength while the people are completely unaware. The Ministry is doing such a fine job of covering everything up for him; he doesn't even have to try to keep it secret. Tell me Fudge…" I turned my furious gaze on the pitiful little meat sack that was running the government. "Even if my body had shown residue of the killing curse, wouldn't you have had it published that my murder was a suicide anyway?"

Fudge gulped and shook his head. "N… No… No, of cc.."

"LIAR!" I yelled and pointed Thanatos at him. "You've been discrediting me as some crazy attention seeking tale-teller… you were probably relieved to find me dead!"

The ministry employees shook their heads in shock and disgust.

"How could this happen… the prophecy?" Dumbledore asked.

"The prophecy is still valid." I told him, which was true. "In fact, the prophecy is the reason I'm like this." I said, in sudden inspiration.

"W..what? Are you saying.. y-your still alive?" Remus asked, hope lighting up his face.

"I'm…" what should I say? It might be more convenient for me to stay a spirit. I could train with Orihime until I was ready to kill Voldemort… No one could take her away and I wouldn't have to share her with anyone, and no one could tell me what to do ever again. And best of all, I would be able to be "just harry" and not have to be Harry Potter anymore.

But this 'avenue of retreat' was always open to me if I wanted to use it later; Coupled with the fact that I didn't know for sure Thanatos was the power I needed to kill Voldemort. Wizarding magic might still be the key… in which case I would need my education… But the thing that really did it was looking at Remus' hopeful face, and imagining the pain Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and others would be put through…

"I'm able to return to my body, because to do otherwise would defy the prophecy." There were gasps and excited exultations all around.

"What prophecy?" Asked Fudge.

"I am the chosen one." I told Fudge. He didn't need to know the whole thing. He needed to be brought to heel. I couldn't allow his ignorant defiance and countermeasures to continue.

"Chosen for what! What the hell are you!?" Fudge was starting to get blustery again. Next he was going to accuse me of going dark. I turned up the bloodlust and he quailed once more.

"I will answer you, human! But not because you deserve to know or have the capability of understanding."

I took a breath. "I am a one who has been given power over death. My human shell may die, but it will accept me and live again as I will." Ok, I was laying it on kinda thick, but if Fudge couldn't be made to understand and accept, than I'd take his fear instead. So long as he obeyed me, I didn't really care. "Until my task is complete, the chains of fate will bind me to this world and prevent me from moving on." And that was true as well.

"Chains of fate? Is that those things attached to your face?" Remus asked.

"Remus." I breathed out. "Humans are protected from knowledge that is harmful to them, because they cannot control it. Please don't ask about the hole and chains in my face. Its better you don't know."

Dumbledore eyed me beadily, like he understood but wasn't going to let me give him that answer when _he_ asked that question. Then, like a flower opening to the sun, he smiled and nodded, the brightness returning to his face.

"Then I am thankful, Harry. Could you please return to your body and we can continue the discussion at your Aunt's home?"

I nodded and flicked Thanatos. He was reluctant to revert to his sword-form, having been denied his prey. He went back into his sheath while still howling for Fudge's blood. His keening wail could be heard by the wizards, and they shivered in fear.

I saw the tension leave their bodies, and they breathed easier, as the bloodlust Thanatos exuded was dulled by the sheath. I walked over to my body and stepped in.

I hope I wouldn't come to regret my lies.

--

A/N: C2's: 59, Favs: 98, Alerts: 185, Total hits: 24489, Total Reviews: 108, hits on last chapter: 1080, reviews on last chapter: 17. Today is Saturday, August 30, 2008

17/1080? WTF!

A/N2: Today is the day before Ramadan starts. I probably won't post during the next month cause I'm going to try to stay away from fanfiction and focus on worship. Today is also the day I'm leaving my husband of 5 some years… I'm moving the last of my things today that I'll take with me for now. It's a pretty depressing time to be me- so I thought I'd post a chapter and beg for some reviews to cheer me up.

In other news, would anyone like to purchase a 1ct. three stone diamond wedding ring? No? Well, at least wish me luck- I'm going to need it.


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